Wasn't sure if this deserved it's own thread (feel free to delete it if so, mods) but apparently Patrick Rothfuss just closed a deal with Lionsgate for the rights to produce a series, movies and videogames simultaneously.

I do not know how the multi-platform aspect of the deal would work. The MCU would be the biggest example but, for the most part, all of its events happen on a linear timeline. Would a series be focus on Kvothe's childhood or perhaps focus on different characters all together? Would the movies be present day? What about the games? Since the deal has just been reported, it is all up for speculation and we will have to wait for more news. There seems to be an amicable relationship between Rothfuss and Lionsgate so I am optimistic.

Lionsgate, for those who do not know, has been involved in movies such as: The Hunger Games, Divergent, Dear White People, John Wick and The Hurt Locker. On TV, they have produced shows like:Mad Men, Orange is the New Black and the short lived Dresden Files. I don't think they've ever been involved with videogames. I mention this just to give some context. Personally, I couldn't be happier. I know any project will take at least 3-4 years to see the light of day, but I can wait.

 

I read the news yesterday, don't know how they'll manage a tv show and a movie simultaneously. Video game might be fun, who knows.

But honestly? I don't care:



Still waiting, nothing to see here, carry on.

 

I'm apprehensive about movie adaptations for these books, but they could definitely work as an AMC / HBOish type show.

launch the hype.

 

Don't you mean, book 3?

Anyways, if its even halfway good old like to play Name of the Wind: the RPG.

 

I'm more optimistic about any video games. A movie or tv show would show just how much Kvothe's problems are non-problems.

 

The movie will be shit, unless they do it in installments, which they won't. A TV show might be good, depending on how it's done, but I hope to god the people involved with the Dresden Files TV show aren't involved.

I honestly don't see how a game could be anything but shit, unless it just happens to take place in the same universe. Telltale style could work, maybe, but nothing else really makes sense with the universe. I'm expecting an Eragon style movie tie in.

 

The best I can make sense of this is that they plan to pull a Stargate: a single movie to start it off, then a TV series after that. Anything else would be odd, in that the audience for the movie would be limited to those who already followed the TV show.

 

Is it a serious deal or one of those where one studio got the rights so that others won't? And they have no concrete plans, only a lot of maybes.

 

The movie could be good, but I think the real qualities of the book would struggle to translate onto a screen so I have low hopes for it. A videogame I could potentially see being good however, as long as it's not a cheap cash in kind of game. I believe Rothfuss has been involved with making some games before, so hopefully he'll have some direct input to make it not shit.

 

They've named a producer so seems at least semi-serious.

 

Okay. Dunno, don't have much hope in this. I guess it could be good, but the real strengths of the book were its prose and the way Kvothe thinks and perceives the world, all of which are unlikely to be translated all that well into the big screen.

As to the game, similarly, don't really know what kind of game you could go for. A random RPG would probably suck. Maybe a Telltale style game?

 

I have no idea how you could make Sympathy or Sygaldry fun to play. Or even implement it in a convincing and distinct fashion. A fantasy game with boring, generic or useless magic is already disadvantaged.

I mean, I'm not a fan of magic systems in general, but Rothfuss wrote it well enough to be engaging. It was so similar to the laws of physics/nature/logic that the reader could participate in trying to solve a problem via magic and thus felt involved in the plot.

This wouldn't translate well to video games - at all.

 

Exactly. An adaptation, no matter how good, just can't replicate the prose.

And the prose - the way things are told - is what makes the KKC so cum-inducingly good.

Give me Book 3 or give me death.

 

With the way they talk in that article about how they want to show off the world, I wonder if they're going to go beyond just the book story and expand the universe a lot more. Rothfuss has said before that he has ideas for other stories in the world. Maybe this will be how they want to tell them.

 

I'm tentatively interested in the prospects of a movie, as we've seen that they can be done alright in the past(Lets say Lord of the Rings, for example, not necessarily The Hobbit trilogy) and then the more common disaster ala Eragon. Not sure how to feel toward a game. Neutral at best I suppose. The show is where I want to hope. Comics turned into television have swung and missed, and the Dresden Files was not my thing in the slightest, but again we've seen that under the right crew it can be achieved well.

 

I think one of the real strengths of this series is its 'story-within-a-story' aspect that comes up again and again.

And you can convey that pretty well on TV or a movie-- lots of flashbacks or short animated sequences whenever a character tells a story. Picture that storyteller Bard guy starting to speak-->transition to a animated voiced-over storybook style sequence-->back to real life.

It'd be a fun style. Like how Avatar TLAB had its great opening sequence or Avatar LoK had the animated sequence of the spirit world stuff.

 

If they are goin multiplatform on movie, tv and video game, then it all could be seen as canon material. It could allow the whole world of the Four corners to further developed. Many of the unanswered questions about the world it self could be answered here while we wait for the story itself.
I am wondering if we will see comics as well, new stories, or the books and short stories depicted. The short stories might be easier to shape as comics.
To play the game, would knowledge of the world help you? It might offer clues on how best to act. We heard there might be a game, but what type. It us obviously won't be a driving game but is it possible it will be a morpg?

 

Holy fucking shit, syed is actually a mod. I thought it was just some elaborate joke...

Anyway, on topic. Along with that Hollywood release, Pat released a blog discussing why he did what he did.

I highly recommend anyone who actually cares about the series to go and read it now.

I had absolutely no faith this was going to being anything other than shit, until I read that blog. Now I have a bit of hope. Some.

Apparently Pat retains at least some form of creative control, and wants to make sure that if it's done, it's done right. In line with that, he's been negotiating with Lionsgate for a while with lots of expensive lawyers and apparently they've come to some sort of consensus that works for both of them.

As to whether it would work out though, only time will tell for sure.

 

To be honest, I think the success of the project is going to be dictated largely by two things: the size of the budget and the quality of the director. The source material is neutral - it could go Eragon, it could go LotR. It depends entirely on how authentic it looks and how well they avoid the cringe factor that fantasy can induce.

 

Holy shit a completely coherent Syed post.

The Stargate analogy seems the most accurate, movie into show. It wouldn't surprise me to see a GoT multiple POV style, it gives more seasons out of the two books, allows side information to be revealed and if combined with a Kote/Chronicler voice overs could really help to establish the unreliable narrator vibe that helps make the books so great.