Attempts to turn adult adventure or thriller literature into film franchises have not

[Enda8011]

often worked out in the last forty years.

http://forums.comicbookresources.com...+entertainment

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...lbornFranchise

Flight of the Intruder did not lead to adaptations of the other Jake Grafton novels.

The Specialist did not lead to other adaptations of the Specialist novels.

While Firefox, Clint Eastwood's adaptation of the novel by the same name, resulted in novelist Craig Thomas writing additional stories about Mitchell Gant, it didn't lead to any other film adaptations.

The adaptation of Royal Flash in 1975 did not lead to other adaptations of the Flashman novels.

Gorky Park did not lead to other adaptations of the Arkady Renko novels by Martin Cruz Smith.

The Empty Beach did not lead to other adaptations of the Cliff Hardy novels.

The Bone Collector did not lead to other Lincoln Rhyme films.

Clive Cussler has seen two attempts to start film franchises based on his novels about Dirk Pitt, Raise The Titanic and Sahara. Neither produced sequels.
Both had negative fan reactions, and Clive Cussler disowned both movie


The last forty years have seen several examples of attempted hard-boiled detective/police/private eye films series that never reached more than one film.

Larry Cohen intended to make a few sequels to his 1982 remake of I, the Jury. The script for one of them served as the basis for 1987's Deadly Illusion, but as of 2010 no further Spillane based films have reached theaters.

Kathleen Turner bought options on many of the VI Warshawski books. Only one film came out.

Other authors who wrote various reasonably prolific series adapted into only one film-John D. MacDonald and Travis McGee (one theatrical film, Darker Than Amber), Walter Mosely and Easy Rawlins (one theatrical film, Devil in a Blue Dress), Lawrence Block and Matthew Scudder (one theatrical film, Eight Million Ways to Die). James Lee Burke's Heaven's Prisoners featuring Dave Robicheaux only had a direct-to-DVD follow-up, In the Electric Mist, with Tommy Lee Jones taking over from Alec Baldwin.

[chetes]

So the Hollywood marketing machine is hyping that movie as the next big thing in the industry. The producers are so confident that they have already announced the comic-book adaptation, action figures and the plan to make a trilogy.

However, when the work is actually released, it flops and kills the plan to make more out of it. This can happen for a variety of reasons:

An adaptation that pisses off the fans of the original source and fails to capture mainstream interest.
A niche property being shotgunned into a multimedia cash-cow even though not many are interested in it.
Something that just plain sucks due to the negative reception it receives.

Poor Green Lantern

[Cyke]

often worked out in the last forty years.

http://forums.comicbookresources.com...+entertainment

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...lbornFranchise

Flight of the Intruder did not lead to adaptations of the other Jake Grafton novels.

The Specialist did not lead to other adaptations of the Specialist novels.

While Firefox, Clint Eastwood's adaptation of the novel by the same name, resulted in novelist Craig Thomas writing additional stories about Mitchell Gant, it didn't lead to any other film adaptations.

The adaptation of Royal Flash in 1975 did not lead to other adaptations of the Flashman novels.

Gorky Park did not lead to other adaptations of the Arkady Renko novels by Martin Cruz Smith.

The Empty Beach did not lead to other adaptations of the Cliff Hardy novels.

The Bone Collector did not lead to other Lincoln Rhyme films.

Clive Cussler has seen two attempts to start film franchises based on his novels about Dirk Pitt, Raise The Titanic and Sahara. Neither produced sequels.
Both had negative fan reactions, and Clive Cussler disowned both movie


The last forty years have seen several examples of attempted hard-boiled detective/police/private eye films series that never reached more than one film.

Larry Cohen intended to make a few sequels to his 1982 remake of I, the Jury. The script for one of them served as the basis for 1987's Deadly Illusion, but as of 2010 no further Spillane based films have reached theaters.

Kathleen Turner bought options on many of the VI Warshawski books. Only one film came out.

Other authors who wrote various reasonably prolific series adapted into only one film-John D. MacDonald and Travis McGee (one theatrical film, Darker Than Amber), Walter Mosely and Easy Rawlins (one theatrical film, Devil in a Blue Dress), Lawrence Block and Matthew Scudder (one theatrical film, Eight Million Ways to Die). James Lee Burke's Heaven's Prisoners featuring Dave Robicheaux only had a direct-to-DVD follow-up, In the Electric Mist, with Tommy Lee Jones taking over from Alec Baldwin.

There's always Bourne and Jack Ryan, though in light of your post I'm surprised Stephen King hasn't tried to link his movies together more the way his novels have (though maybe Stephen King is a brand unto himself).

I imagine part of the problem with adult franchises is that there isn't yet a way to expand revenue beyond film and TV and therefore give studios incentive to explore these routes. "Kid" franchises (for lack of a better word) have several things going for them: toys, happy meals, video games, clothing lines, spinoffs, comics, and all kinds of merchandising. The closest I can think of is Mad Men's fashion line through Banana Republic, and even then it's not like anyone's looking to milk the brand.

[Redem]

There's always Bourne and Jack Ryan, though in light of your post I'm surprised Stephen King hasn't tried to link his movies together more the way his novels have (though maybe Stephen King is a brand unto himself).

We need a grand unifted Stephen King timeline

[Jared]

First Blood was based on a novel. Although, I think Rambo died in the book, and thus never want on to defeat Vietnam and save the proto-Taliban from the Soviets.

though in light of your post I'm surprised Stephen King hasn't tried to link his movies together more the way his novels have (though maybe Stephen King is a brand unto himself).

King isn't that involved in most of his movies, I thought. And different directors, screenwriters, and producers probably make the thinks difficult. 'Dreamcatcher' did reference Derry, Maine, from 'It', although there's no actual suggestion in the movie about any other events there.

James Lee Burke's Heaven's Prisoners featuring Dave Robicheaux only had a direct-to-DVD follow-up, In the Electric Mist, with Tommy Lee Jones taking over from Alec Baldwin.

Damn, he must have done some hard living.

Morgan Freeman did make two Alex Cross movies, and I thought there was talk of doing another one some years back.

Didn't Sex and the City start as a book? I found sitting though that on occasion to often be more tense than any conventional thriller.

[Cyke]

First Blood was based on a novel. Although, I think Rambo died in the book, and thus never want on to defeat Vietnam and save the proto-Taliban from the Soviets.

This just reminded me about that very odd franchise that is Die Hard. Each movie is based on a book, it's just that they're based on (I think) totally unrelated and unconnected books. The plot for Die Hard with a Vengeance would have been a Lethal Weapon movie had it been rejected.

[thwhtGuardian]

This just reminded me about that very odd franchise that is Die Hard. Each movie is based on a book, it's just that they're based on (I think) totally unrelated and unconnected books. The plot for Die Hard with a Vengeance would have been a Lethal Weapon movie had it been rejected.

No way, I never knew that they were based on novels though I did feel like Die Hard 3 was a project that started off as a Lethal weapon sequel, Zeus' character just felt like it could have been Danny Glover to me.

[Chiasm]

James Bond worked at fairly well I'd say.

So did the Bourne books.

The Tom Clancy books spawned 3 or 4 movies.

Maybe the key is that they need to be based on spy stuff.

[Cyke]

James Bond worked at fairly well I'd say.

Movie Bond is older than 40, almost 50 now, so I think he's disqualified according to the OP.

[Jared]

No way, I never knew that they were based on novels though I did feel like Die Hard 3 was a project that started off as a Lethal weapon sequel, Zeus' character just felt like it could have been Danny Glover to me.

But then we wouldn't have "Do I look Puerto Rican to you!"

Live Free or Die Hard definitely felt like it could have been something other than a Die Hard movie. I liked it, but it would have worked for an original character, Mission Impossible, Bond, hell maybe even a season a 24.

Along those lines, Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides, was based on a book, On Stranger Tides. They just swapped in the Pirates characters, basically.

Stallone bought the rights to some book about a soldier going up against a cyborg, or something, and he was actually going to make it Rambo 5 but then thought better of it.

edit: Relevant.

[StoneGold]

Fallacy here being that the only sign of success are sequels. Also, that because you can make a list, that makes something true.

Because whole messes of novels from Grisham, Chrichton, Ellroy, Leonard, Tolkein, Clancy, Flemming, the Bourne series, Thomas Harris' Lecter books, The Puzo, Benchley...


And Flemming does work, because they rebooted everything for Casino Royale. First time doing that as a serious EON film too.

It's a stupid argument. Here's a list of films that didn't get a sequel based on books. Obviously, that means that books turned into movies don't work.

[Cyke]

Fallacy here being that the only sign of success are sequels. Also, that because you can make a list, that makes something true.

Good point.

And Flemming does work, because they rebooted everything for Casino Royale. First time doing that as a serious EON film too.

The reboot was banking off the James Bond name first and foremost in order to be a success (there's nothing wrong with that, mind you). Additionally, reboot or not Casino Royale and its sequels are still considered part of the overall 50 year old film canon, like Star Trek and its reboot, so I don't know if it works according to the OP. Or that could be my geek-need for categories speaking.

[Michael P]

Fallacy here being that the only sign of success are sequels. Also, that because you can make a list, that makes something true.

You just destroyed Cracked.com.

[EZMOHR]

First Blood was based on a novel. Although, I think Rambo died in the book, and thus never want on to defeat Vietnam and save the proto-Taliban from the Soviets.



King isn't that involved in most of his movies, I thought. And different directors, screenwriters, and producers probably make the thinks difficult. 'Dreamcatcher' did reference Derry, Maine, from 'It', although there's no actual suggestion in the movie about any other events there.



Damn, he must have done some hard living.

Morgan Freeman did make two Alex Cross movies, and I thought there was talk of doing another one some years back.

Didn't Sex and the City start as a book? I found sitting though that on occasion to often be more tense than any conventional thriller.

They are making another ALex Cross movie right now....with Tyler Perry and Matthew Fox. You read that right....Tyler Perry as Alex Cross.

[StoneGold]

The reboot was banking off the James Bond name first and foremost in order to be a success (there's nothing wrong with that, mind you). Additionally, reboot or not Casino Royale and its sequels are still considered part of the overall 50 year old film canon, like Star Trek and its reboot, so I don't know if it works according to the OP. Or that could be my geek-need for categories speaking.

The OP wasn't too specific about rules. I think it may be more the latter. But either way, there are plenty of successful series in the last 40 years based on adult literature. Plenty of successful one-offs as well. Once again, a sequel is not the only sign of success.

You just destroyed Cracked.com.

As I've said before, your first mistake was in reading Cracked. They just aren't the same since Don Martin died.