re: #201 DaddyG

The sad part is there must be thousands of classic, mystery, science fiction, fantasy, romance, youth, biography and other literature that could be used as the basis for some awesome movies.

Unfortunately, such great material always seems to wind up in one of three piles:

1. Practically impractical: The cost of production and distribution would be so expensive that, even with the Dark Knight’s numbers, it wouldn’t make back the money spent. Or the technology needed to make the film “believable” simply doesn’t exist, like with Avatar.

2. Nothing’s Taboo (Except When It’s Taboo): Some of the material is considered “too risky” with current movie-goers, such as how the “Arab terrorist” market dried up back after 9/11. Movie execs refuse to touch such stuff unless it can be made “audience-friendly,” but in many cases doing so would pretty much make the movie pointless.

3. Development Hell: Execs love the idea, the numbers seem to match up…and then something goes horribly wrong. The director splits, the actor(s) split/die/are busy/etc, the creator has second-thoughts about agreeing to the adaptation, the economy crashes, etc. The list of movies sitting in Development Hell reads like a “who’s who” of every major cultural fad in the last 30-40 years.