Warner Bros. Nix ElfQuest Movie, Pin Blame On The Hobbit

[Brendon Connelly]

I would assume that the success of The Lord of the Rings and the huge interest in The Hobbit, not to mention the extraordinary, eight-film success of the Harry Potter series, would encourage Warner Bros. to look seriously into all of their similar options, but the studio has not to move ahead with a long-developing ElfQuest movie, based upon Wendy and Richard Pini's beloved comics.

Not only that, they studio are said to have actually cited The Hobbit as their main reason for pulling the plug.

Wendy Pini posted to Facebook:

After close to four years of suspense - and longer than four years of your much-appreciated interest and support - the word has come down from Warner Bros. And the word is "no." Their simple explanation is that they don't want to compete with The Hobbit. This was a possibility, among several, that we were prepared for. It is a relief, at last, to know.

A shame.

Ms. Pini added this rather philosophical illustration:



I had reported last October on the appointment of Joe Ahearne, creator of the Brit TV series Ultraviolet, in writing a new ElfQuest script. Dodgeball's Rawson Marshall Thurber had written a previous draft and was still attached to direct.

Now, even if you don't know ElfQuest at all, I'm sure you can spot one similarity to Tolkien: the elves. But how similar are these stories really?

Well, maybe not so much. Enough to carry a trailer, I'm sure, but little enough that distinctive films could have been made, with very different flavours and personalities. Rawson Marshall Thurber is not Peter Jackson, nor vice versa.

For an example of these differences, ElfQuest features interplanetary travel. And a certain amount of polygamy, with attendant nudity - and a very notorious orgy scene.

I wonder when we'll next hear of a studio setting up an ElfQuest adaptation? My bet is shortly after the box office melts from flaming hot Hobbit dollars.

[Hollow]

Wasn't that movie in development for nearly two decades now?

But how similar are these stories really?

As similar as the TMNT and Masters of the Universe are. More or less.

[NielsVanEekelen]

I'm hardly surprised, considering how many times the development of an ElfQuest movie has crashed, but that reason is certainly original. As if they could even get it made quickly enough to compete with The Hobbit.

[SMARTASS8]

I'd pay to see an ElfQuest movie. It'd probably have to be animated though since 99% of the characters in it are elf sized or smaller.

Have the Pini's even done anything with their creation since it left DC years ago?

As similar as the TMNT and Masters of the Universe are. More or less.

Considering Masters Of The Universe was one of if not "the" biggest toylines of the 80's(as well as the first one to have a theatrical animated movie as well as live action movie released for it), I'm still surprised it couldn't capitalize on either Lord Of The Rings or Transformers for a new movie. Although, considering the quality of most toy & comic based movies, it's probably best it hasn't.

[Jimvanhise]

I know that in the mid 1980s the Pinis only wanted to go the animation route, but that was before CGI opened the door to a lot of possibilities. At one time in the 1980s an animation house (Nelvana?) had optioned Elfquest for animation and then abruptly decided to make it the studio's first live action feature, which the Pinis opposed because they didn't think the FX of the Elves riding dogs would look convincing. Now it would. What amazes me is that after The Lord of The Rings became a billion dollars success, no one has done anything similar. Harry Potter is contemporary fantasy, but studios have avoided doing a Lord of the Rings style fantasy the same way they've avoided doing a Jurassic Park style dinosaur movie even though JP3 came out in 2001 and the marketplace has been wide open. I heard once that studios decided that only Spielberg could make a successful dinosaur movie. Do they think that only Peter Jackson can do epic fantasy? That would be like saying that only George Lucas can make science fiction movies. Makes no sense to me.

[Joe Kalicki]

I'd pay to see an ElfQuest movie. It'd probably have to be animated though since 99% of the characters in it are elf sized or smaller.

Have the Pini's even done anything with their creation since it left DC years ago?

I just read the Wiki article earlier today and I don't believe so. But I could be wrong.

I know that in the mid 1980s the Pinis only wanted to go the animation route, but that was before CGI opened the door to a lot of possibilities. At one time in the 1980s an animation house (Nelvana?) had optioned Elfquest for animation and then abruptly decided to make it the studio's first live action feature, which the Pinis opposed because they didn't think the FX of the Elves riding dogs would look convincing. Now it would. What amazes me is that after The Lord of The Rings became a billion dollars success, no one has done anything similar. Harry Potter is contemporary fantasy, but studios have avoided doing a Lord of the Rings style fantasy the same way they've avoided doing a Jurassic Park style dinosaur movie even though JP3 came out in 2001 and the marketplace has been wide open. I heard once that studios decided that only Spielberg could make a successful dinosaur movie. Do they think that only Peter Jackson can do epic fantasy? That would be like saying that only George Lucas can make science fiction movies. Makes no sense to me.

Probably because Eragon bombed. There were a bunch of fantasy movies for a while there though.

[Nimbus]

Probably because Eragon bombed. There were a bunch of fantasy movies for a while there though.

Like the Narnia series of films. Or the Golden Compass. Or the Clash of the Titans remake. Or Beowulf. Or Stardust. Or the Name of the King. Etc.

[Knut Robert Knutsen]

Maybe the competition they feared would sideline them wasn't "The Hobbit" but the inevitable "This ain't the Hobbit" parody? ;-)

I'm sorry, but as an old Elfquest fan I really don't think animation is the best route, nor a movie version. With special effects the way they are now, it is possible to do a live action Elfquest, with some judicious casting. The only way to tackle the complex storylines and the adult subject matter, not to mention the sex, would be as an HBO or Showtime series. An animation series might be viable if the sex is excised, a movie if you dump all the many story layers, but either way it's getting short-changed. It's the soap-opera, the unfolding realtionships, the alternative take to society etc. that to me are the heart of the Elfquest story, and that is what would appeal to me in an adaptation.

And only a HBO/Showtime type series would be able to present that. I'm not even talking about the nakedness, I'm talking about the omnisexuality, the polyamorous relationships, the constant challenges to mainstream morality.

[ahlhelm]

I still think going the Spawn cartoon route is the only real way I can think of to get this show on the air. If they can get HBO or Showtime behind an animated series, I'm sure they can find success.

[The Xenos]

It is similar to a point of one of the most hotly anticipated returing franchises of the year and decade... so they didn't think it was bankable??? What the hell? Does Hollywood usually jump at copycat amd similar films? This o.e is not the time to atop that!! Making Battleship a Transformers knockoff movie? THAT is when you say "No!"

Geez. With LotR and Game of Thrones doing mainstream gold farming, I though the doors would bebopen for the teove of fantasy novels and comics like this, not the opposite.