In August and September, House of the Dragon and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will launch the backstories to two of the most successful fantasy adaptations of all time. But for every critically and publicly revered film adaptation of a novel series, there are at least three disastrous flops.
You will find them in the following list five particularly disappointing examples of great fantasy saga adaptationswhich failed the audience and were scrapped after a film.
1. Failed Fantasy Saga: The Dark Tower
The Dark Tower – Trailer 2 (German) HD
No novel series in this list had that much potential like Stephen King’s epic mix of horror, western, science fiction and fantasy. Hollywood struggled for a long time to film the eight-book series, but when the time finally came, only disappointment remained: With a star cast around Idris Elba as Roland Deschain and Matthew McConaughey as the Man in Black, The Dark Tower came out in 2017 Cinema – and failed terrifically. Described as a disaster, the production ended in a dispassionate short version that lost all of the violence and scale of the King story.
2. Failed Fantasy Saga: Eragon
Eragon – Trailer (German)
A hero, dragons and nasty villains offered the Eragon tetralogy by Christopher Paolini, but that was apparently already too complicated for Hollywood. 2006 saw the release of Eragon: Legacy of the Dragonriders, starring Ed Speelers, but this fantasy adaptation failed to ride the wave of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Lack of fidelity to the book and a Film adaptation without any personality of its own were just two of the many points of criticism. Eragon flopped at the box office and nothing came of the sequels. Only now, many years later, does Disney want to try again.
3. Failed Fantasy Saga: Inkheart
Inkheart – Trailer (German)
Cornelia Funke’s series about Meggie, who discovers that she Bring book characters to life can. But instead of a success on the scale of The Neverending Story, Inkheart didn’t make it past a movie. The fantasy adventure starring Brendan Fraser and Andy Serkis came at a time when the world felt tired of all the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter clones. It also didn’t help that the film never managed to emulate the allure of the books.
4. Failed Fantasy Saga: Winter Solstice
Winter Solstice – The Hunt for the Six Signs of Light – Trailer (German)
Vikings star Alexander Ludwig stars and is joined by top actors such as Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under), Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who) and Ian McShane (Deadwood). What else could go wrong? Pretty much anything, as evidenced by 2007’s awkwardly titled Winter Solstice: The Chase of the Six Signs of Light. The adaptation of Susan Cooper’s hugely popular series follows a teen who, on his 14th birthday, discovers that he is the last of a band of warriors fighting the darkness. After the film in the US one of the weakest fantasy starts lay down at all, the hunt for the six signs was over. Also because the adaptation failed to bring the epic and magical elements of the Arthurian legend from the book to the screen.
5. Failed Fantasy Saga: Seventh Son
Seventh Son – International Trailer (German) HD
Joseph Delaney’s Spook Cycle has so far spawned 14 books about the adventures of a boy named Tom who can sense ghosts. That should actually be enough material for a halfway entertaining fantasy story about the path-seeking. But it was too much to ask for Seventh Son, in which Ben “Prince Caspian & Darkling” Barnes plays Tom and is tutored by master Jeff Bridges. Seventh Son managed the rare feat of wasting Bridges and (!) Julianne Moore and breathed his overpriced fantasy world never lead a credible life. Thanks to the bloated budget and poor box office earnings, it was over after one film.
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