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Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

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Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

Old 05-21-10, 09:34 AM
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Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

It's not a surprise that DUNE and BATTLEFIELD EARTH failed as films because you can't condense a long book or bunch of trilogy books into one film. Has it ever been done where a long book or a book trilogy has been successfully adapted into one film?
Old 05-21-10, 09:44 AM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

The Shaw Bros. martial arts fantasy, NEW TALES OF THE FLYING FOX (1984), was based on the epic novel, "Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain," by Jin Yong (aka Louis Cha). When the novel was filmed for Hong Kong TV, it lasted 30 hours.
The movie, which adapts the whole thing, is 90 min. And it's nonstop. Gotta love Hong Kong filmmakers.
Old 05-21-10, 09:59 AM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

Originally Posted by Ash Ketchum
The Shaw Bros. martial arts fantasy, NEW TALES OF THE FLYING FOX (1984), was based on the epic novel, "Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain," by Jin Yong (aka Louis Cha). When the novel was filmed for Hong Kong TV, it lasted 30 hours.
The movie, which adapts the whole thing, is 90 min. And it's nonstop. Gotta love Hong Kong filmmakers.
That was actually the last Shaw Bros film that I saw which I thought was extremely entertaining and creative!
Old 05-21-10, 10:00 AM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

Gone with the Wind?
Old 05-21-10, 11:10 AM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

Ben-Hur
From Here to Eternity
Old 05-21-10, 11:23 AM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

LOTR was successful as one three-part, nine-hour film
Old 05-22-10, 07:28 AM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

Originally Posted by davidh777
LOTR was successful as one three-part, nine-hour film
And even better as a three part, twelve hour film.
Old 05-22-10, 07:41 AM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

I think I would have preferred a 90-minute cut of the entire LOTR trilogy.
Old 05-22-10, 11:46 AM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

Originally Posted by toddly6666
It's not a surprise that DUNE and BATTLEFIELD EARTH failed as films because you can't condense a long book or bunch of trilogy books into one film. Has it ever been done where a long book or a book trilogy has been successfully adapted into one film?
The only examples I can think of where a "trilogy" of books were condensed into one film were A Series of Unfortunate Events, which was the first three books, and Sin City, which had 3 of the larger story arcs. In those cases, the individual stories weren't that long, and didn't need to be condensed much to fit 3 of them into one film.

I've never heard of an "epic" trilogy of books being condensed into one film. The closest would be the animated The Lord of the Rings, which condensed two of the books into one film, but not all three.

War and Peace, at around 1,200-1,500 pages, longer than the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, was adapted into a successful 208 minute film in 1956.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_and_Peace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_and...281956_film%29

Last edited by Jay G.; 05-22-10 at 09:05 PM. Reason: fixed page count
Old 05-22-10, 12:06 PM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

Originally Posted by Ash Ketchum
I think I would have preferred a 90-minute cut of the entire LOTR trilogy.
Are you saying that because you really think a shorter cut would have worked, or are you just not a fan of the books, films, or long movies?

I agree that they are long, but don't see how each film could have been cut by 80% and been at all interesting or entertaining.
Old 05-22-10, 12:17 PM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

Originally Posted by Jay G.

War and Peace, at around 12,000-15,000 pages, longer than the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, was adapted into a successful 208 minute film in 1956.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_and_Peace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_and...281956_film%29
Check your decimal point.
Old 05-22-10, 01:33 PM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

Akira
Old 05-22-10, 09:06 PM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

Originally Posted by movielib
Check your decimal point.
It's technically "check your zeros," since the numbers have no decimal, but I've fixed it. Thanks.
Old 05-22-10, 09:09 PM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

Originally Posted by dugan
Akira
Well, if we're going to count multi-volume mangas, then Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind counts too.
Old 05-23-10, 01:30 AM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

Nausicaa was based on the first book of the series. Was that true for Akira?

Last edited by dugan; 05-23-10 at 02:02 AM.
Old 05-23-10, 04:49 AM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

I seem to recall Akira wasn't even finished when they made the movie.
Old 05-23-10, 05:53 AM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

Originally Posted by Trevor
Are you saying that because you really think a shorter cut would have worked, or are you just not a fan of the books, films, or long movies?

I agree that they are long, but don't see how each film could have been cut by 80% and been at all interesting or entertaining.
I was being facetious. But it's quite possible that all the essential story points of LOTR could have been adequately condensed into one 3-hour movie.
(And don't ask me to enumerate them because I can't friggin' remember which ones, if any, were essential, except, of course, for Sam finally hooking up with his little Hobbit wench at the end of Pt. 3. That was the best part.)

Last edited by Ash Ketchum; 05-23-10 at 05:55 AM.
Old 05-23-10, 07:36 AM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

Originally Posted by Jay G.
It's technically "check your zeros," since the numbers have no decimal, but I've fixed it. Thanks.
I thought about that but I decided the decimal point was implicit.

And a tree falling in a forest does make a sound even if no one hears it.

Old 05-23-10, 12:29 PM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

Originally Posted by Lemmy
Flame away.

No need for that (this time). I was just curious as to what the two of you thought. It's perfectly acceptable to not like a certain film or genre. Different strokes and all that.

The only two things I'll never understand on this subject are how anyone could possibly like Avatar, and how anyone could dislike Jaws. Beyond that, all's fair.

But I'm pretty sure that no one really thinks that a 1200 page novel could be made into a 90 minute film. As it was, they left a lot of stuff out.
Old 05-23-10, 01:25 PM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

Wasn't The Spiderwick Chronicles a whole series of books that they crammed into one 90 min movie? I never read the books but did watch the movie
Old 05-23-10, 01:48 PM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

Originally Posted by JJE-187
Wasn't The Spiderwick Chronicles a whole series of books that they crammed into one 90 min movie? I never read the books but did watch the movie
The movie was loosely based on all 5 books of the first series, but skipped parts including most of book 4 per wikipedia.

Plus it was a fairly short set of books, for kids iirc, of like 125 pages each.
Old 05-23-10, 04:34 PM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

Originally Posted by dugan
Nausicaa was based on the first book of the series.
Nausicaa was based on the first two books of the series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausica...nd_%28manga%29
The first 16 chapters (approximately the first two of the entire seven volumes) of the comic served as the basis for his 1984 film of the same name.

Was that true for Akira?
As has been pointed out, the manga series wasn't finished when the movie was made, and is based largely on the first half of the series (first three volumes).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_%28film%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_%...29#Adaptations
Old 05-23-10, 05:23 PM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

Though, technically, Lord Of The Rings was originally published as one book written in three parts. But over time, the parts were broken down into individual books.
Old 05-23-10, 05:30 PM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

Originally Posted by Jay G.
Nausicaa was based on the first two books of the series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausica...nd_%28manga%29
Or the first book if you're going by these.
http://www.amazon.com/Nausicaa-Valle...dp/1569313482/

Each of these amounts to two volumes, so point taken.

(These are the editions I read, so I think of the movie as the first book).

Last edited by dugan; 05-23-10 at 05:48 PM.
Old 05-23-10, 06:42 PM
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Re: Epic/long/trilogy books adapted into one film: have any of these films succeeded?

Originally Posted by Skyclad01
Though, technically, Lord Of The Rings was originally published as one book written in three parts. But over time, the parts were broken down into individual books.
No, it was written as one book and published as three. But it's always been three books from a consumer standpoint.

Last edited by majorjoe23; 05-23-10 at 07:43 PM.

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