Top Ten Tuesday: Books I'd Like Made Into Movies

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at The Broke and the Bookish.

Ever read something that you just wish you could see? (I actually feel that way with most manga.) Well, this week we're listing our Top Ten picks for movies we want Hollywood to tackle.

10. Seth Grahame-Smith & Jane Austen's
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

I've heard this one's already been picked up by somebody, but I'm still waiting to hear anything definite. I'm not really a horror movie person, so I'm banking on more comedy than gore coming out of this.

9. Michael Ende's The Neverending Story

Okay, so this one already has a movie. And don't get me wrong, I love the movie(s), but I think it'd be neat to see what modern special effects might be able to do. Or heck, what about computer animation? Or what if Burton got his hands on this? If they're gonna reboot a movie, you might as well try something you could actually improve upon. Leave poor Willy Wonka alone.

8. Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game

This is another one that was supposedly in the mix. In fact, my scripts class in high school picked up the book just because the movie was in the works. And yet I haven't heard anything since! What happened? We've seen kids killing each other in The Hunger Games, why not battling in zero gravity? Come on Hollywood, make it happen!

7. Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy

They tried to make this one, and apparently failed. I know I've seen it (I might even own it), but I honestly can't remember much about it. Oh, other than the polar bear's jaw flying off. Really? Come on, refocus on what's already there and let's get these babies made right! Please?

6. Rachel Hawkins' Hex Hall Trilogy

I don't know why this is on my list - the books are already amazing, and I don't know that anyone can truly match the awesomeness that is Sophie Mercer...but if it could be done and done well, I think this series would be pretty fun to experiment with.

5. Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles

This one would probably be better off as an animated film. Computer or traditional, I don't care. But please don't throw in CGI dragons with real actors. It didn't work in Eragon (though I actually liked the movie), it won't work here. But this series has awesome characters and (gasp!) great female role models. Kids getting something not mind-numbing and with awesome characters? Sorry, my mistake.

4. Kristin Cashore's Fire or Graceling

Though I favor Fire as a character and a story, I'm a little more apprehensive about seeing it on the big screen. Knowing Hollywood, they'll focus on the big-budget battle scenes at the expense of the beautiful Monsters. Graceling doesn't have a huge war going on, but where a book can capture invisible gifts, it might not translate to screen as well. Still, if they could be done well, I'd love to see what's possible with these.

3. Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl Series

Artemis Fowl is another awesome kids series that really should be tried for movies. Again, I'm kinda leaning towards animated just because I don't think it could get a LotR type budget for makeup, and I DON'T want to see a CGI Holly. Heck, it's published by Disney's Hyperion, just give it a Narnia budget and I'd be happy.

2. Diane Duane's Young Wizards Books

I don't think this series will ever get its true due, but it's always fun to dream. The characters are great, the magic is well-imagined, and the worlds are spectacular. Unfortunately, so much of the magic of this series lies in its subtlety. They don't cast huge, flashy spells because they're trying to work under the radar in the real world. They don't have a huge school to go away to, all they have is their own backyards (or alternate universes they accidentally fall into). If I ever do hear anything about this, you can bet I'll be first in line for tickets.

1. Any & All Tamora Pierce Series

Would you expect anything else from me?

Again, I attribute this mostly to budgets and popularity. For the medieval costumes, sets, training and any special effects they'd need, it'd be too much of a gamble for the (comparatively) small fan-base these books have. But dang it! I want to see Alanna! And really, they could choose any of the Tortall series to start with (...except maybe Aly's) and build forward or backward later.

With Emelan, they're kind of stuck with Sandry's book as the starting point. They could possibly combine books 1 & 2 together, then having a movie each for books 3 and 4. It's tricky to figure out, but I still think it's doable.

Honorable Mentions:
Kiersten White's Paranormalcy (pictured left)
K.A. Applegate's Everworld Series
Brian Jacques's Redwall Books
Julie Kagawa's Blood of Eden Trilogy
Patricia Briggs's Mercy Thompson Series
Andrea Cremer's Nightshade Trilogy

Will you pick your favorites, hoping for the best?
Or has Hollywood already massacred enough literature?
Which movies are on your list? Let me hear you howl!