Is it just me or are people making more fantasy movies out of fantasy books now. It began with Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, then we get Narnia, then we will have Eragon and His Dark Materials. I mean has anyone noticed a trend here?

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I was cured all right.

I think moviemaker's are realising that people are really into fantasy now because of Harry Potter and the like, so they've decided to make more fantasy genres movies to bring in more people and revenue.

I think another reason we're seeing a rise in fantasy movies is because the technology is finally available to do the books justice (i.e. without making them seem silly). I think superhero/comic book movies also fall into this category.

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"...that kind of music in general turns my stomach. It's nice that they do have fans, though." -Nienor

Popularity is the key here. Movies are made for one key reason: to make money. Peter Jackson always wanted to make the LOTR films but he needed backing and so New Line gave him the money because they thought it would make a profit.
And so due to the success of LOTR the movie industry caught on and began flying the films out Ie Harry Potter, which was known to make money as it was popular.
It's much the same with comic book films. When Judge Dred came out, it was a flop at the box office and so the comic book films didn't start getting made. But along comes X men and suddenly we get a wave of comic book films. Hulk, Spiderman, Xmen 2 and 3, Spiderman 2, Batman Begins etc etc.
The trends are easy to predict when you see what films make money and what don't.

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"Rock N' Roll is the only relgion that never lets you down!" ~ Lemmy Kilmister

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Nope. It's not just you.

We had a discussion on this at my youth group, and one guy replied it was because we wish we could be one of the characters, or live in one of those worlds.

I mean, who wouldn't want to go to Hogwarts and learn magic, live in Middle Earth and carry a sword, or ride a dragon?
{I'm getting kinda deep here, but...}
I think that we have a deep desire embedded into our beings for adventure. We want to be caught up in something greater than ourselves. Just like Frodo's quest to destroy the Ring -- we long to be a part of something that great and important.

Seeing these movies, if you will, "feeds" this desire.

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^Thanks Gily!
<By Bubble Black

I totally agree with you! I know that's why I LOVE fantasy movies

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Whew, good. It actually made sense.

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^Thanks Gily!
<By Bubble Black

i am very excited, I think its brilliant that they are making movies from fantasy books... i am such a fanatic about them, that's basically all i like to read, fantasy

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Hello, I'm Amoniel
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I agree Gwen. Yes, they are moneymakers, but this is the reason that adventure stories and movies have always been popular. Its in our nature. They talk about this a lot in the book Captivating, by Jon and Stasi Eldredge, which I am certain you would love, Gwen.

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"...that kind of music in general turns my stomach. It's nice that they do have fans, though." -Nienor

Ok here's an interesting thought, if Lord Of The Rings was a terrible film, a flop, would any of the other fantasy films be made?

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"Rock N' Roll is the only relgion that never lets you down!" ~ Lemmy Kilmister

[!*#_:]

^ Harry Potter still would have been made (even if it had been made after LotR - it was actually released before FotR) Very popular books that are a big thing at this moment will nearly always be made into films. I'm not sure about Narnia - if LotR had done badly and HP had gone well then it would have been quite likely to go ahead thinking that children's fantasy films based on popular books do well. But they might have looked at LotR and thought that that style of fantasy doesn't do well and neither do films based on more classic books that maybe less people read now. If both had done badly it wouldn't have a chance.

I very much doubt though that the films based on less popular books would have been made. Eragon is very similar to LotR and His Dark Materials is already a pretty big risk even if films like it are doing very well.

I suspect that as soon as one of these big fantasy films does very badly we will start seeing a lot less of them. That happens quite a lot in cinema.

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Thanks Belle. And actually, I have read that book! The first few chapters were really good, but then it seemed to drag on. Have you read Epic [by Jon Eldredge]? That book concentrates even more on this topic -- I loved it.

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^Thanks Gily!
<By Bubble Black

Well, if it was a flop, I'm certain it wouldn't have given us that magical feeling Gwen was talking about. I think the movie's high gross is a result of the magic. True, money is a cause, but what goes even back further and causes the money to flow in?

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<center> all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us


Thank you for five-plus wonderful years of obsession, friendship and fun

I think another crucial key to fantasy is escapism. What hasn't been brought up is that fact that LOTR and HP were first released as films only 2 or 3 months after 9/11.

We wanted to escape from our ordinary lives that were a bit scarier than they were yet we wanted to see heroes that could overcome insurmountable odds. Heroes that beat their own "terrorists."

Ahhh. Very well said, Ericadawn. So true, I had never thought of that or realized it.

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^Thanks Gily!
<By Bubble Black

I totally agree with you, as well, Ericadawn! That was actually the first thing that came to mind when I was reading over this thread. The U.S. has been through a lot (and is still going through a lot, what with the Iraq War and the specter of a possible one with Iran, as well), so most of us don't want to have to think too much about all that. Europe's starting to go through some troublesome times, as well (e.g. the London bombings, the attack in, I think, Madrid, the riots in France over possible laws requiring reduction in the number of students allowed to work, etc.). Releasing a huge crop of fantasy/sci-fi/comic book movies in theatres is a way to forget about all that for a couple of hours or so.

Alexis

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The end is where we start from.
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