Warner Bros. options The Dragonriders of Pern

[Bruce]

I just read an article on the website IGN that says Warner Bros. Has optioned the entire Pern series for films. Could we finally see the Dragonriders of Pern movies we have all been waiting for? I sure hope so!! Hopefully more to come soon.

[mara]

o wow, fingers crossed everybody!!!

[mawra]

I'll believe it when I see it. Until then I'm not getting my hopes up.

[Priscilla]

Agreed, maw!

[Lily]

And I agree. I only hope they do not mess it up, the way we have seen suggested in the past!!!

[Hans]

Silly, they optioned it once before...

Are you sure it was a rcent article, cause that would mean that Canadian company Copperheart would have given up and gave the rights back to the McCaffreys.

[Lily]

Don't options have an expiry date?
Yes, it seems to be a recent article. Fans all over the sites I read are talking about it

[Hans]

Not an autumatic one, Lily. If there are they will be mentioned in the contract.
Anyway, it means that the Copperjeart venture is out the window, too.

Maybe WB wants to try that silly TV series plan again? Would be a lot easier to do with todays CGI abilities.

[Priscilla]

For me, I don't really care one way or the other. I'd rather see the Talent series made into movies, anyway. I suppose if there is actual activity on this it may spark some grumbling and complaining "enthusiasm", at least temporarily?!

[Bruce]

Hans, Warner Bros. is looking for their next big franchise. After Harry Potter and LOTR and The Hobbit having done so well, they are looking for a good source material. I, like all Pern lovers have wanted to see a good quality movie made. Heck, I even daydream in my head how the movie would look if I was directing it. For me it would start with "Lessa woke cold" and go from there. I'm hopeful after what has been done on the Harry Potter and LOTR films that great movie can be made of our beloved Anne's books. Time will tell.

[Anareth]

Most options expire. (Honestly, the best way for the writer to get rich is to sell the option, have it expire, and sell it again.) Likely Copperheart's had a 'use it or lose it' date on it and when it went, WB made an offer again.

There are a couple options that could be going on. One is they intend to develop the property. (No, LOTR does not inspire confidence. The Hobbit's a nightmare example of taking source material and absolutely darker-and-grimmer-ing it beyond recognition.) Another is that they have something similar in mind and wish to lock up Pern's rights so any overlap isn't actionable. Disney bought the rights to the comic book "PS 238" (about a secret school for the children of superheros) not because they wanted to produce it but because they were already in prepro on the project "Sky High" and they didn't want the comic writer suing them. When you DON'T lock up similar properties, you get situations with hard feelings at the very best (though he didn't sue, J. Michael Straczynski pitched Babylon 5 to Paramount, who hemmed and hawed and finally said no, and it went to another company...and there were in fact a lot of hard feelings when a year later as B5 went into production Paramount announced the eerily similar Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Which is ironic as CBS used a pitch session for the original Star Trek with Gene Roddenberry to swipe ideas that would be used for Lost In Space.....) WB may simply be tying up loose ends. I don't know what they'd be doing, but it's possible and wouldn't be the first or last time it's happened.

[Simon]

After all this time, I hope they don't make the films. I like the Pern in my head and I want to keep it the way it has been since I first read the books decades ago. No film will match my expectations...

[Priscilla]

I agree with that, Simon.

[Hans]

Elizabeth Ann Scarborough posted on her facebook that she called Todd to congratulate him. Todd said it is just one of those Hollywood stories, nobody has been in contact with Anne's family officially...

Sent Todd McCaffrey a congrats note yesterday about the reported movie deal for Annie's Pern books and he said that much as he wishes it were true, so far it is just "another Hollywood rumor." Sigh.

[Priscilla]

Well, that was some short-lived excitement!

[SpaceCowboy]

I think right now the only two science fiction or fantasy franchises that have firm options are David Weber's "Honor Harrington" series, and Eric Flint's 1632verse. The Weber series is in movie pre-production and they are working on scripts and trying out CGI images of the treecats and ships. Flint's has been renewed recently and is for a TV series based on the secondary stories not the main storyline.

[Cheryl]

There's more than that, SpaceCowboy. There are two different tv series in the works for books by John Scalzi, Redshirts on FX and his Old Man's War series on Syfy. I'm hoping both come to fruition as they are entertaining books.

I hadn't heard about Honor Harrington, but will enjoy that as well!

[Bruce]

I just got through reading Redshirts by John Scalzi. I met him at last year's Worldcon in San Antonio. He signed my copy as well as Old Man's War and Fuzzie Nation. Looking forward to the tv adaptation of Redshirts.