Ender it all, Ender it all, he won't fall, he won't fall.
Summit Entertainment announced today that they are in talks to co-finance and distribute Gavin Hood's adaptation of Orson Scott Card's epic sci-fi novel. The film seems to be an attempt by Summit to compete with the franchise young adult films such as the upcoming Hunger Games, and replacing Harry Potter and Summit's Twilight as those series come to an end. Hood is finalizing a visual presentation that will be shown at this years Cannes. (Deadline reports more details on Ender's movie adaptation history below)
After Gavin Hood's poor handling of The Wolverine franchise fans will have to keep their fingers crossed that he can pull off a half-decent representation of the world that is Ender's Game. There are ALOT of things that any movie adaptation of Ender's Game ought be weary of when transferring the book to the screen, such things as:
Ender and friends are children from 3 to 7 for most of the book yet act mostly as young adults, the gravitational physics battle room, the look of the aliens, how time passes in the film, Ender's dream world, and the sort of back and forth of reality as we see it out of Ender's eyes. Also a whole political Internet undertone...
There is just ALOT to cover in Ender's Game, and not too mention, there is a whole series of Ender novels, A whole LOT of story going on...
Orson Scott Card has really wanted a movie adaptation of Ender's Game for a long time, although it is said that he has also passed on a number of opportunities, waiting for a faithful adaptation. I can't say I trust Gavin Hood, but hopefully Scott Card is behind it as well, hopefully he has some influence and the movie is at least three hours long. Take a sip of the Giant's Drink and hope for the best.
Here are some of the characters to be cast for a film:
Andrew "Ender" Wiggin
Valentine "Demosthenes" Wiggin
Peter "Locke" Wiggin
General Graff
Maser Rackham
Friends/Team Members:
Bean, Alai, Petra, Han Tzo
Bonzo
Images from the Marvel Comic Adaptation:
Ender:
Valentine and Peter:
The Battle Room:
From Deadline:
"EXCLUSIVE: Summit Entertainment is acquiring U.S. rights to a live-action adaptation of the Orson Scott Card science fiction novel Ender's Game, with Gavin Hood set to direct his script. Summit, which is winding down its Twilight Saga series, is co-financing Ender's Game and eyeing it as an opportunity to hatch another youth-driven series, with protagonists that are slightly younger than the kids in the upcoming The Hunger Games trilogy. It's another opportunity to discover young talent, because the protagonists in the film are just entering their teens. Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are producing through their K/O Paper Products banner, along with Odd Lot's Gigi Pritzker and Linda McDonough, the author and Lynn Hendee. Digital Domain is also an equity partner. The film will be shopped at the upcoming 2011 Cannes Film Festival, with Nick Meyer's Sierra/Affinity brokering offshore deals. The plan is to put the film into production by early next year.
Ender's Game is a seminal futuristic novel that Card originated as a short story in 1977 and then turned into a 1985 book that won both the Hugh and Nebula Awards and spawned a series. The storyline begins on Earth after an alien attack, when gifted children are recruited by a government desperate to fight back. The kids are taught a competitive game that's a cross between the Quidditch matches of Harry Potter and the Jedi light saber battles from Star Wars. Only the best and brightest will be chosen. A young boy emerges as a genius strategist, and the planet's best hope to destroy the alien Formic race.
Hood is the South African filmmaker whose 2005 film Tsotsi won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, and who last helmed X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Warner Bros acquired the novel in 2002 and tried for years to make the film with director Wolfgang Petersen. I'd heard that the author, who long resisted selling the project to film, was a very hands-on presence, and that complicated the movie transfer. The studio's option lapsed and Pritzker's Odd Lot stepped in. Odd Lot hired Hood, who has spent the past year crafting a screenplay, in between directing TV pilots like Breakout Kings. While Hood was said to have had a difficult time making Wolverine at Fox, that film posted an $85 million opening weekend and grossed $375 million worldwide in 2009.
Hood is finalizing a visual presentation that will be shown at Cannes. He is working closely with the VFX house Digital Domain, which will also be a production partner on the project. WME and Anonymous Content rep Hood. ICM reps the author to destroy the alien Formic race."