adaptations

Sanderson finally signs the Cosmere adaptations after years of fighting, and Apple gives him more control than George RR Martin has

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Brandon Sanderson has closed an unprecedented agreement with Apple TV to adapt the literary universe of Cosmere. The platform will develop films based on the ‘Mistborn’ saga and a series of ‘The Storm File’, the author’s two main franchises. The pact gives Sanderson a level of creative control higher than even that enjoyed by JK Rowling or George RR Martin with their respective adaptations: he will be the architect of the universe, he will produce, he will be consulted and he will have the power of approval over creative decisions. Several attempts. The announcement comes after years of deals that did not come together. In 2016, DMG Entertainment acquired the rights to the Cosmere for $270 million for three films, but the project never moved forward. own Sanderson recognized in December 2024, in your annual updatebeing “back at square one” after the collapse of negotiations for a film adaptation of ‘Mistborn’ that had reached very advanced stages of development. The project had taken five years of work, had a finished script and linked actors whose identities he could not reveal. Sanderson later detailed on Reddit that the plan contemplated a hybrid model: a first big-budget film followed by a television season covering the period between books one and two of the original trilogy. A second film would adapt the second book, followed by another transitional season. The main actors would have signed contracts for both film and television. An unusual success. The new agreement with Apple represents the culmination of the publishing phenomenon led by Sanderson: his books have sold more than 50 million copies worldwide, a figure that includes both his solo works and his contributions to ‘The Wheel of Time’ by Robert Jordan, which he completed after his death in 2007. In 2022 he established the record for Most successful literary Kickstarter in history by raising 41.7 million to self-publish four secret novels written during the pandemic. But what is the Cosmere? The Cosmere is a shared universe that interconnects multiple fantasy sagas through a common cosmology and interlocking systems of magic. The model resembles Isaac Asimov’s approach with his universe of robots and foundations, although Sanderson planned the connections from the beginning to avoid the need to reconcile items later. The Cosmere encompasses different planets with distinct civilizations, histories and magical systems but based on a shared mythology: the being Adonalsium, whose power fragmented into sixteen shards distributed throughout the cosmos. The agreement. Apple closed the deal after a competitive process in which Sanderson met with most of the top studio executives in Hollywood. In this way, the company is left with a fictional universe that has similarities with another franchise it also owns, ‘Foundation’ (and, in part, with ‘Silo’), which allows it to compete in the field of fantasy and science fiction adaptations with Amazon (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Wheel of Time), HBO (Game of Thrones) and Netflix (The Witcher). It is not the first time that Apple has reached agreements with prestigious creators, such as Alfonso Cuarón (‘Disclaimer’) or Martin Scorsese (‘The Moon Killers’), but none had been given as much creative control as Sanderson. The challenges of the Cosmere. The technical and narrative complexity of the Cosmere poses notable obstacles. For example, magic systems: Allomancy in ‘Mistborn’ allows users to “burn” ingested metals to obtain supernatural abilities differentiated according to each metal. Sanderson expressed on Reddit his concern about a possible oversimplification that denaturalizes these systems, designed with coherent internal rules that structure entire plots. The length of the works is another problem: the books often easily exceed a thousand pages. For example, the five Stormlight Archive books add up to nearly two and a half million words, and Sanderson plans ten volumes in total. The expectation. The announcement made by the author on Reddit generated thousands of comments analyzing the implications of the level of creative control guaranteed to the author. The closest precedent to this model could be Peter Jackson with ‘The Lord of the Rings’, although in that case the author of the original work was absent. Meanwhile, Sanderson asks for patience: film development requires years of prior work, usually between two and three, before reaching the production phase. What is clear is that although Sanderson’s presence provides guarantees and Apple is potentially a great option for adaptation, the process is not going to be easy. In Xataka | Brandon Sanderson eviscerates the Cosmere, his narrative technique, which includes an Excel sheet, and the moment that made him a writer

The best of your adaptations

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Stephen King loves recommending. Ask him that he has seen lately, what he has read in recent times, with which series is distracted in his (scarce) free time, and will be delighted to give you a series of titles. Although over time it has become more conservative and less daring, its history discovering and recommends dates back to the first eighties, so you have to respect your enthusiasm. Like the one that demonstrates detailing what is his ten favorite films in history. Ten movie (and peak). With the next arrival of ‘The Long March’ to the US cinemas (here, for the moment, we will see it in Sitges), the writer has taken advantage of to List your ten favorite films in historyplus four tip that has left out because, well, they are based on his books. Without particular order, they are: Damn Load (1977) The godfather, part II (1974) The escape (1972) Cut in time (1993) Casablanca (1943) The Treasury of Sierra Madre (1948) Shark (1975) Bad streets (1973) Encounters in the Third Phase (1977) Perdition (1944) And to those we must add, as we have commented: Misery (1990) Perpetual chain (1994) Account with me (1986) The Green Mile (1999) What King likes. If we analyze the selection, we can find everything: it is a more or less indisputable list (except in what refers to those based on his work, where King has never demonstrated very good taste, as he demonstrates leaving out ‘Carrie’ or ‘El Gestandor’), and some curious details stand out: There are two from Spielberg The only one of Scorsese, ‘Mala Calley’, is not one of the director’s most valued (not even of that time: ‘Taxi driver’ is immediately later), but it is a great cult film Surprise with the only comedy, ‘caught in time’, already considered a modern classic. The classics are indisputable but somewhat manids: nobody can discuss ‘The godfather Part II’, ‘Casablanca’, ‘Perdition’ and ‘The Treasury of Sierra Madre’, but we miss some risk, even within those same genres (NoirWestern …) Congratulations, Stephen, to include two cult classics: ‘La escape’ by Peckimpah (instead of ‘wild group’, for example) and the amazing ‘damn load’ of William Friedkin, the most unknown and perhaps best film in the entire list. Compulsive recommendations. This week the curious ‘law of Jenny Pen’ arrives at the Spanish billboards, which comes with King quality seal: “One of the best films I’ve seen this year,” says the cover. It is just one of the dozens of recommendations you have made: for example, These 50 books They come from various interviews and activity in social networks; During the pandemia recommended Netflix movies; In Goodreads there is a forum only to comment on books of the 700 (!) King has recommended over the years; Here is a selection of 15 horror movies that King has recommended in recent decades; And if you feel more, his ‘Macabra’ Dance test is an essential list of everything that has vertebrate the horror genre throughout its history. Historical Recommendation. Personally, I remember perfectly that the first things I read of King were, before his books, two of his most famous recommendations: the phrase “The most fierce and original horror movie of the year” that stood out in the Spanish VHS of ‘Infernal possession’; And the legendary “I have seen the future of the genre of terror and his name is Clive Barker” who adorned the covers of all the books of the author of ‘Hellraiser’ for a while. That is, King likes to recommend everything to ask. And although abundance has led to some saturation, it is successful on numerous occasions. The King effect. King’s aforementioned phrase on ‘Infernal possession’ part of the critic he published in the magazine ‘Twilight Zone’ and that helped find distribution To Raimi’s movie. Since then, a producer and distributors strive to make a King phrase visible on their covers, although he has said passed and is as vague as “one of the best films of the year.” It is never too late to repeat the King effect. In Xataka | Why ‘It’ is Stephen King’s final novel

Call of Duty announces a film, with which he will make a leap to the void, going beyond the children’s audience of other adaptations

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It was clear: after the successes of ‘A Minecraft movie‘ either ‘Super Mario Bros.: The movie‘We were going to see new video game adaptations. AND ‘Call of Duty‘It was one of the undisputed franchises to receive a version on the big screen. Although his announcement also involves a distancing from other projects: a more adult series, with more serious themes, and that opens new ways for what could be the next great Hollywood reef. Paramount points. The renewed Paramount, now under Skydance’s wings, is the one that will be responsible for producing this adaptation of the Activision saga, which will appear in the movie’s credits as an advisor to everything that comes out on the screen. It is a turn that is not surprising coming from the producer: one of her last great hits in cinema was’Top Gun: Maverick‘, so it has all the meaning that wants to continue exploiting the war aesthetics with a franchise settled in the past. It is not the first time that Paramount tries, however: in 2018 he already tried to put an adaptation of ‘Call of Duty’ standing with the director of ‘Sicario 2’, Stefano Sollina, on board. A lifelong fan. On this adaptation, David Ellison, CEO of Paramount, said in statements that Deadline collects “As a fan of ‘Call of Duty’ of a lifetime, this is a dream come true. From the first allied campaigns in the original ‘Call of Duty’, going through ‘Modern Warfare’ and ‘Black Ops’, I have spent countless hours playing this franchise.” And makes the inevitable comparison: “We are addressing this film with the same discipline and the same unwavering commitment to excellence that guided our work in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, making sure that it meets the exceptionally high standards that this franchise and its fans deserve.” Good new times. Today the times in which adapting a video game were almost synonymous with guaranteed failure (at least artistic) seem. The huge software sales promoted adaptations, but gave rise to fiascos such as ‘Super Mario Bros.’ or ‘Street Fighter’ (today claimed as cult films, and both with new versions that – at least in the case of Mario – have cleaned the image of the franchises). Recall that for a while, the one who was considered a nefarious director, Uwe Boll, insisted on adapting a video game after another. Not everything is terrible. Despite the bad reputation of adaptations, we have had good films from the beginning: the first ‘Mortal Kombat’ is a great version and The ‘Resident Evil’ sagawith its ups and downs, it is full of humor, imagination and springs (and The despised 2021 adaptation It was great). ‘Silent Hill’ is remembered for its powerful macabra imagery and Lara Croft’s versions … well, they have not aged at all well but they are esteemed adventure films, and the 2018 version was very defensible. But none of that prepared us for the dump at the box office that would hit films such as those mentioned, to which successes such as ‘Sonic The Hedgehog’, ‘Uncharted’ or Pokémon movies, which we forget about them and although there is an anime through them are added, video games are part of their DNA. Adult cinema. All of them, however, have something in common: they are films oriented to children or, at most, to the family member. ‘Call of Duty’ is, therefore, a risk to which the sequelae of ‘Sonic’ are alien, for example. Paradoxically, franchise players are young and even There is an important group that is between 11 and 20. Paramount, however, may not want to escape the possibility of attracting spectators in a broader range of ages, with a more serious and violent film. If you get even more the arch of the spectators, you can have a real triumph on your hands. Header | Activision In Xataka | An urbanization was deserted in Valencia after the real estate bubble. Some geniuses have made it ‘Call of Duty’

It is considered one of the best video game adaptations to the cinema ever made and has just arrived at Netflix

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Almost twenty years have passed since its premiere, but it is undeniable that the overcrowding visual force of ‘Silent Hill‘, that He has just arrived in Netflixremains intact. In the last two decades, the special effects have evolved in very different directions, but the incredible makeup of this Christophe Gans movie and its clear and open intention to make a faithful and respectful version of Konami’s original video game has gained Many of his fans. And that, as they say, ‘Silent Hill’ is maladaptable: the unforgettable experience of the first video games exists because it lives in the first person, and that makes that The cryptic argument and the atmosphere built with fog and sirens sounding in the distance Be sufficient to raise panic. But Gans has the need to convert that sensory experience into a film with conventional argument, and that sometimes makes decisions that move away ‘Silent Hill’ from an absolutely literal adaptation. In spite of everything, it works at a wonders. In this adaptation, a woman lives desperate to find a cure for her daughter’s mysterious disease, and decides to locate Silent Hill, a town that the girl speaks constantly in dreams. But upon arrival, a mysterious figure causes an accident after which, his daughter disappears. Accompanied by a police officer, the two women begin to look for it, and will soon discover that the desert people after a devastating fire hides much more than it seems. ‘Silent Hill’ belongs to a time when cinema began to produce, finally, visually faithful adaptations to the video games that inspired them. Far away were the times of the hilarious ones (but far from the originals) ‘Super Mario Bros.’ or ‘Street Fighter’, and Hollywood began to pay attention to the digital medium with films such as this or the success ‘Tomb Raider’. We would still have to suffer horrendous productions such as the bulk of UWE Boll’s films, also of this era, but ‘Silent Hill’ stands out among the rest for understanding and adapting, even with its problems, Konami’s original game with a remarkable dignity. In Xataka | ‘PT’: The best horror video game in history is a demo and hard just a few hours

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