Film Adaptations and Cinematic Universes

We all know about the MCU and DCEU.  Screenrant recently released an article about other cinematic universes currently under development, and that got me thinking about fantasy fiction and what books I’d like to see as a cinematic universe:

The Dragonriders of Pern, by Anne McCaffrey:

To begin with, this is my favorite all time fantasy series.  The characters are amazing.  The world is unique, and, well, dragons.  Every time I see a movie that discusses dragons or even creatures that maybe, in the right light with enough alcoholic assistance could be dragons, I’m baffled that this hasn’t happened.  Someone more knowledgable than me might know why, but I’d be the first guy in line to see this world come to life in the form of a cinematic universe.  Like MCU and Star Wars, this world has a lot of great characters that beg for independent films.  It sits atop my list of dream movies.

Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere:

First off, this is already a multimedia universe.  His stories span graphic novels, RPGs and even a video game.  This universe is so deep and trawling, the potential for movies is endless.  There’s even potential for other media-related products.  Knowing Sanderson’s work, he’s probably finished a novella while I was working on this blog.  He’s already given us 10 years of glorious storytelling, and we can only hope we receive many years more.

The Night Angel Trilogy, by Brent Weeks:

Don’t close this browser!  The Lightbringer series is wonderful, but the key to great cinematic universes is a diverse range of characters that can hold their own in a movie.  I won’t deny there are a handful of powerful, interesting characters in Lightbringer, I simply think this trilogy is more suited for the big screen universe than Lightbringer (which I’d LOVE to see Netflix or HBO take on).   The thing that drew me to the Night Angel Trilogy was that this book honestly felt like pretty much every character could be his or her own main character in a book.  That’s why I’d choose this one.

Age of Fire, by E.E. Knight

This might be a reach in comparison to the others, which have much deeper worlds and larger casts, but the right mind behind this universe can take advantage of some of the characters and cultures and simply have fun with it.  Others may clamor for the Vampire Earth saga, but that seemed to taper off for me.  I can’t argue it has more scope and more powerful characters, but this is the more complete story at this moment.

Discworld, by Terry Pratchett”

I’ve read a few of these.  The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky are simply beautiful.  I don’t care for whom they were written.  This has the sort of scope Sanderson’s Cosmere has, but I don’t think people see it.  I’d be first in line for a Tiffany Aching saga, let alone the whole Discworld library.

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I absolutely want you to comment below on what you think I’ve missed out.  I won’t lie, I left some out for simple bias and others because I felt they’d be better suited for the small screen.  I could clog the internet with all the sagas I think would be great cinematic universes.  These are just the first five I could think of.  (Shout out to Peter V. Brett’s Demon Cycle!)  My point is, as production companies are beating down the door for potential cinematic universe fodder, why not look at the genre that’s inherently designed for such a purpose?

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As for my books?  First off, if anyone wanted to produce anything based on my books, feel free to shoot me an email!  I’ve been asked how I feel about adaptations.  I’ve always felt The Journals of Bob Drifter would be better suited for series.  There’s a balance between what would make for a good series and what would make for a good cinematic universe.  You haven’t seen the last of Harmony and Kyle, but I still think I’d prefer to see that as a series than a cinematic universe.  I was ecstatic to hear Wheel of Time was tagged for a series.  I think that’s the right call.  I feel the same way about Bob.

Caught is the first in a trilogy, and each character, I feel, could hold his or her own in a movie.  For those reasons, I’d feel this project would be better suited for the big screen.  I have other books, deeper and more expansive in scope as I grow in skill, that would be even better suited, but this is what’s out there (or scheduled to be out there) for now.

Did I miss something?  Do you have ideas on project managers or cast members for any of the series I mentioned above?  Feel free to make a comment below and share your thoughts.

Thanks for reading,

Matt