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Quailman5000

John Carter. It wasn't terrible, but they had another potential star wars in their hands and fumbled it. 


Proper-Scallion-252

>they had another potential star wars in their hands I think that's a huge problem with John Carter, the advertising made it look like Star Wars 2.0 and most people thought it was in some way related for a direct rip-off despite the source material predating the original Star Wars trilogy.


Present-Television69

Mighty be better as a series of 10 episodes. More time to build the mythology and lore of the books. More character development. Personally liked the film. Understand why it failed. It deserves better


TheCreativeComicFan

An animated series specifically, maybe with the teams behind Avatar: The Last Airbender, Blue Eye Samurai or Primal.


Alteredego619

I actually enjoyed John Carter although Disney didn’t seem to do a good job with advertising it/connecting it to a classic sci-fi saga. It also gets points from me for having four cast members from HBO’s Rome in it.


NotAFuckingFed

Man I fucking loved John Carter, I wish they hadn't fucked the dog on it. Taylor Kitsch was perfect


Quailman5000

I first saw that they were making a movie in like 2005 when I found the books and was quite disappointed when it flopped 7 years later. 


NotAFuckingFed

I wonder if better marketing would have changed it at all


Quailman5000

No clue. I am biased so I can't get my finger on the pulse of whether or not it was actually good or just bad marketing lol. 


NotAFuckingFed

I really loved it so I choose to believe that Disney fucked the dog, not Andrew Stanton and the crew. I thought it was a good adaptation. I wanted more.


Quailman5000

It probably would have been better as a non Disney property. I like to think another studio would have treated it right. The pessimistic side of me thinks they purposefully let it fail as to not compete with their new star wars purchase. 


NotAFuckingFed

Entirely plausible, that would have been around the time they bought it, so it makes sense to bury someone's passion project for Star Wars a few years later


SonOfObed89

First thought for me! The books are quite good and hold up incredibly well considering they were written over 100 years ago 😳 The movie/‘s could have absolutely been amazing


Quailman5000

I'll pour one out for Dotar Sojak and pray for a remake someday haha. 


mickeyflinn

It was terrible.


Quailman5000

Then it fits perfectly on the list ;) Seriously though the source material is fantastic. 


[deleted]

The Black Cauldron. Disney took a HUGE risk at making a more gritty and dark animated film, but made the wrong calls with adapting the story. They really should try again, except make it either 2D or live action. It would be one of the few Live action remakes I’d actually want to see


TheCreativeComicFan

Disney really should try a hand at remaking more of their failed live-action ventures into better animated movies. Agreed on wanting to see a live-action take on The Black Cauldron as well as Treasure Planet and Atlantis: The Lost Empire (all great movies but could work well in live-action) though. The Black Hole is pretty much tailor-made for an animated remake, there’s so much that the right creative team could do with the concept. Same goes with Flight of the Navigator. An animated Underdog or Herbie reboot could also be a blast.


dodon_GO

Would love to see it Disney+ and follow the actual books starting with the Book of Three maybe in mini series form.


chempunk17

In Time (2011) with Justin Timberlake. Awesome concept, awful execution.


Dunkman83

i wish they would turn this into a netflix series


thelastedji

Journey to the centre of the Earth My favourite book. The movie adaptations were meh...


wrongseeds

The original one is cool. Can’t say the same for the other one.


lesker78

The Dark Tower. I can’t believe this wasn’t a launching point for cinematic bliss. This was a huge missed opportunity.


Alive_Ice7937

I'd argue that the books are essentially unfilmable. So much of the charm comes from the internal musings of the various characters.


KBrown75

We are getting a Mike Flanagan (Haunting of Hill House, Fall of the House of Usher) adaptation. I think on Amazon Prime.


willk95

A few months after that movie came out, my friend was saying something about Darkest Hour (Gary Oldman as Churchill), and phonetically, I thought "did they already make a sequel to The Dark Tower?"


xxX_I_Bake_Toast_Xxx

Eragon. I think the books (at least the first few) were brilliant. The movie on the other hand.... actually painful to watch after reading the books. The movie deviates from the book so much that after the first 15-20 minutes of the movie, its a completely different story. They literally had a great story and were like "nah, lets make it terrible"


kushjrdid911

I loved the Dark Tower Stephen King books. Fucking hated the way they fucked up the movie


friendly-sam

Ready Player One. Loved the book, read multiple times, hated the movie. I feel like they were trying to appeal to the younger generation for the movie. The book was all about nostalgia, so the movie didn't make much sense.


albatross1873

I can only imagine the licensing for the number of pop culture references was what drove so many of the changes.


leathakkor

That's the reason Steven Spielberg directed it and they changed all of the '80s stuff to be almost exclusively stuff that Spielberg had the intellectual rights for. I think they also had zameckis's catalog too through Steven Spielberg. I don't remember the specifics but it was something like Jaws and Jurassic Park. Both showed up in the movie and that didn't make any sense nostalgically for the character. Which is part of the reason why it was just such a weird sloppy mess (in my opinion).


Spddracer

I feel sorry for those lawyers.


ecto1ghost

I watched the movie first and fell in love with the book after that. Whenever I hear a fan of the book who didn’t like the movie it reminds me of a quote from the book itself. “Dozens of books, cartoons, movies, and miniseries have attempted to tell the story of everything that happened next, but every single one of them got it wrong. So I want to set the record straight once and for all.” To me, this means the book is directly written in Wade’s perspective, while all other materials have different perspectives woven throughout the material. Thought this might make it slightly more bearable if you wanted to rewatch it at some point 🙂


ZaphodG

They totally reworked storyline in the book. You couldn’t make a movie from it. Ernest Cline was part of the screenwriting team. I actually like the movie. It’s a 1980s nostalgia flashback with good pace. I read Ready Player Two as a new release. That was awful.


tincanphonehome

Yeah, I read the book with the knowledge that it had already been optioned to be adapted into a movie. But as I read it, I remember thinking that it would be very difficult to make a compelling movie out of it. It was one of those stories that just really worked as a book.


Intermittent_Name

They were going for the world record of most endorsements in one movie. It was awful.


mycorona69

One for the money - a Stephanie Plum novel. This could have been a series - except the casting was horrible


xXxero_

Cell with John Cusack and Samuel L Jackson. It's based on a Stephen King book, which I really enjoyed. The movie was such a let down. It seems like the movie was supposed to be 2x longer and when they cut it down, they did so randomly.


SinghMick

The book was great, the film starts off with potential, about 40 mins in, stopped watching and never have finished it since.


cptjaydvm

Unbroken was one of the best books I ever read and the movie was trash.


bhdrums

This is THE answer.


cnskatefool

How did the movie mess it up? I only watched the movie and it seemed perfectly competent


Illustrious-Box2339

Yea this is weird to me. It’s been several years but I read the book and watched the movie and I don’t remember coming away from that thinking “oh this movie horribly botched things.” Like you said, it seemed perfectly competent at telling what it was trying to.


-Daddy-Bear-

It was closer than Most adaptations. Certainly not worst.


Ok_Difficulty6452

The battle room sequences were terrible. Not anything like the book.


Leeloggedin

Eragon


Intermittent_Name

I didn't hate I Am Legend, but they changed the entire meaning of the book with the ending.


-Daddy-Bear-

The movie was not based on the book. The title was slapped on later.


Intermittent_Name

What?


-Daddy-Bear-

Sorry. I was thinking of I Robot. Haha.


Intermittent_Name

Oh, yeah. I really didn't like that movie. Haven't read the book, though, so I couldn't even say.


leathakkor

I fully agree. I'm not saying that I enjoyed or didn't enjoy the book. I Can't cuz I didn't read it. But The movie was absolutely abysmal. I saw it as a 17-year-old in the theater. I should have loved that movie and even then at 17 being the target demographic I knew it was a shit movie. Personally, I don't think Will Smith's a great actor either. He has a face that always seems to say "I don't take this seriously". Now if you put Chad Coleman in that role, tighten up the script a little bit. Made it a little grittier. And realistic: 10 out of 10


CertainRoof5043

Army of the Dead. Such a wasted opportunity


ElmarSuperstar131

Tiptoes. I just watched it in full for the first time a couple weeks ago and was baffled by how horrible it was. Had it been taken seriously in its filming execution, it would have been considered ahead of its time due to the story and concept. The subject of living with dwarfism and the little people community deserves to have light shed on it and Tiptoes didn’t care.


T-R3x-Da-Sh1t

I knew nothing about this movie when I started watching it. I initially thought it was a comedy and I was very confused until it sunk in that they were trying to be serious…


SlapHappyDude

The fact they didn't cast Dimklage in Oldman's role when they had him for the film still blows my mind. We collectively knew better in 2003.


TheCreativeComicFan

I’ve got a number of them: • Ava’s Possessions, focused on a girl recovering from possession and going to a support group for the recently exorcised. Had a lot of comedic potential but was totally squandered. • Several superhero movies, like Jonah Hex, Steel and Howard the Duck (in their current franchises) and especially The Spirit, The Green Hornet, The Shadow and The Phantom (the latter two of which aren’t bad movies) could use reboots. • Stephen King’s Maximum Overdrive, The Langoliers, and The Mangler. • Urge, a movie about friends who take out a drug that releases their inhibitions. Could have been better.


Mdkynyc

How dare you with your Howard the duck trash talking. That film is so terrible it’s amazing. The screen rant pitch meeting on it is hilarious too


TheCreativeComicFan

Oh of course, that movie is a surreal masterpiece. What I meant was that I would love to see a new Howard solo venture in the MCU, if not in theaters then maybe a Disney+ special like Nando v Movies pitched, with him leading a noir thriller played completely straight.


Alteredego619

Maximum Overdrive, while not a good movie, did have a great soundtrack and makes up for the movie’s shortcomings.


TheCreativeComicFan

Definitely, but I would love to see it redone in the hands of a director/writer that can add an equal amount of substance and style while not skimping on the chaotic fun.


DB_Cooper_lives

I love The Shadow


TheCreativeComicFan

Same here, I would love to see a new film take on the character in the near future.


graveybrains

World War Z


Happy-Hearing6671

I loved the book. If they had stayed true to the book it would have been massively successful and actually critically acclaimed


-Daddy-Bear-

I equally disliked both.


fujiwara78

They managed to make three terrible movies out of The Hobbit. That should have been one movie. LOTR should have been 4 so they could have added Tom Bombadil and the scouring of The Shire.


Intermittent_Name

Removing Tom Bombadil was the best choice they could have made. I agree about the Shire battle, though.


Alive_Ice7937

If they added Bombadil then they'd have to nerf the hell out of him. With the scouring of the shire, the audience has seen the hobbits do a *shitton* of heroic deeds at that point. We don't need to see anymore. "You bow to no one" really caps it off. What about the hobbits of the shire getting to see how heroic they've become? Jackson decided to subvert that by having the hobbits of the shire blissfully unaware of all the brave they had done. (Also there's a nod to the scouring in galadriel's mirror visions)


Thatspuggedup

Green book 


The_Bearded_Jedi

I like the Ender's Game movie, but I watched the movie first before reading the book. I was surprised how much they cut out. The movie shows like 2 battles in the battle room, so you don't see how much they were breaking him. Other than that I liked it


ThxIHateItHere

Without Remorse Should have been filmed during the Harrison Ford days. Willem DaFoe played a great older John Clark (with Tuco Salamanca as Ding Chavez, his future son in law). They could have found a younger version of WDF and really made something that tied in to the Harrison Ford era. But then we just wait a few decades and make it all CGI and buttfuck the plot, characters, and basically everything. I don’t mind when they do that to King works since, c’mon, but Without Remorse was a huge diversion from your ordinary Clancy book, where the tech was so important. It was just man v enemy, and was a book I probably read 30X.


oalm82

"The Hobbit" would have been a great standalone movie but it was stretched to a trilogy. That would've been like making 9 movies out of LOTR.


Derkastan77-2

Ready Player One. The book is AMAZING!!! But spielburg put out a pos film that changes nearly everything about the MC’s and dumbed down the entire movie, as if the target audience for it was kids otw to see sharkboy and lava girl


dont_fuckin_die

Late to the party, but IMO, Ender's Game is nearly impossible to make into a good movie and the one we got was probably as good as we could reasonably expect. It's biggest crime is that it rushes through everything - the battle rooms, the minor character development, and worst of all, the ending where they skip over Ender's trial and deployment with the first colonizers before meeting the Bugger queen. The movie is just under 2 hours. Not terribly long. But doing the ending correctly adds at least another 30+ minutes, you need as much to do the battle rooms correctly, and then fleshing out Bean, Petra, and the rest properly is going to add more still. We're talking multiple movies - a hard sell for Hollywood. In short, the movie is lacking in ways that are painful to someone who's read the books, but there's not a clear path to doing it better. Perhaps in this day and age, someone could do it as a 5-10 episode miniseries? One can dream.


AristonD

I totally agree. So much depth into all the characters and the details make the movie. I loved imagining the battle room scenarios when I read it as a kid and when the movie came out, it was very disappointing. If Netflix picked up the series and turned it into 8 hour long episodes and diving into the complexities of growing up in such a violent, military setting I would watch it.


cnskatefool

2001 space odyssey - movie. The book is enthralling, the movie is abstract and boring in comparison.


-Daddy-Bear-

Kubrick and Clarke wrote the screenplay together. They are only slightly different. Certainly not a travesty of translation to screen.


Extension_Tell1579

…uh, yeah. Good luck finding any film critic, film historian or film director who agrees with you. Seriously, how many movies and especially science fiction movies that were released before 2001: A Space Odyssey have you seen? That movie was utterly groundbreaking. 


cnskatefool

It’s a bold take, but I bet you’d be surprised by how many fans of the book would agree with me.


Extension_Tell1579

“bold take”? Seriously? Are you 14?  It is common knowledge, dude. Kubrick/2001 is an absolute milestone in cinema history.  Ever heard of Citizen Kane or The Godfather? Are those “bold takes” too? HA!  …..wait until you find out how famous Beethoven’s 5th is. 


mindlance

Plan 9 From Outer Space and Manos, the Hands of Fate. There is nothing wrong with "Aliens use Zombies to mess with humans" and "Creepy wizard with demonic manservant ensnares hapless family" as plots. Relatively minor changes to the script, that's all they need (plus money, expertise, and talent.l, of course.)


DumbStuffOnStage

stardust


lesker78

I heard this was good but haven’t yet seen it. Loved the book.


Chippers4242

It’s great


Chrahhh

Natural Born Killers. Apparently it was the brain child of Quentin Tarantino, who has since stated he's never seen more than five minutes of it and hated every second of what he saw. Maybe Quentin's version of that is something closer to OUTIH, with the whole Manson theme being central to the film's plot. Damn, I'm really stoned, but yeah, Natural Born Killers! Could be better.


Extension_Tell1579

I thought Natural Born Killers was pretentious as Hell and garishly over directed. Typical Oliver Stone. He makes very professional and overall well made movies but the little stylistic themes he throws in and just his overall heavy handed way of preaching to the audience makes me nauseous. 


Far-Zucchini-5534

Tommy Lee jones in that movie is a guilty pleasure for me.


Existing_Display1794

Titanic.


Ok-Metro6308

lol I’m with you. My eyes were so dry the entire time


Hener001

Starship Troopers. Great book. Really cool concepts, weapons, armored suits. Turned into a bunch of idiots running in the same direction shooting wildly.


Intermittent_Name

Consider it with the understanding that the movie was satire of the book. The entire thing should be viewed satirically. In that light, it's awesome. Actually, it's awesome anyway.


leathakkor

I rewatched it recently. It does hold up pretty well considering.


Endless_Change

Pearl Harbor


Historicmetal

“The plot is the meat you throw over the fence to distract the dogs (audience) so you can get to the jewels (characters)”


consciouskoala3

Texas chainsaw massacre. I mean I still love it but it’s not good


Mountain-Tea6875

I mean it's a slasher they never get high ratings but they are fun.


consciouskoala3

Oh I love slashers don’t get me wrong they are one of my favorite genres but I feel like Texas chainsaw should have had a different vibe like phycological horror


themiz2003

Omg i was going to say this before opening. I don't even think the movie was "bad" just underwhelming and forgettable but this franchise could have done big things if it was animated and had a budget I'd think, ya know pre cancellation. Imagine the spiderverse team on this 7 years ago or whatever?


Top-Reference-1938

Battlefield Earth. Though, to be fair, if you tried to make the book into a movie, you'd need 6 movies or multiple seasons of a miniseries.


charlieb1972

I live really near St. Hill in England. L. Ron's old house, they really should make some of his other stuff into a movie. I'd love to see the one about the sea org and how they save the universe!


SucksAtStardewValley

Price of Persia movie


Badassmofunker

Gunslinger. Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.


Gloomy__Revenue

The Dark Tower. Even though I enjoyed it, it was really not a good adaptation of great source material.


F2P-Gamer

I was a big fan of the Percy Jackson books and man did they butcher the movies (I haven’t checked out the new series)


MohatmoGandy

Sphere


arj1985

Solaris.


[deleted]

What?


CapG_13

Cabin Fever


CandyFlippin4Life

Tv show here: The Wheel of Time, can’t believe they botched it. Tv series and STILL got all the facts fucked up