Video: Warner Bros. Lose ElfQuest Movie Rights To Producers Of A Fan Trailer

[Brendon Connelly]

I've reported a few times on apparent progress in Warner Bros. attempts to bringRichard and Wendy Pini's Elfquest comics to the big screen but now it seems everything they did has turned out to be a bit of a wild goose chase. As of now, the rights are no longer sitting with the big studio but with a pair of independent producers, Stephanie Thorpe and Paula Rhodes.

According to the press release, the Pinis have:

agreed to have Thorpe and Rhodes develop their series in order to put the ElfQuest story directly in the hands of its loyal fans. Previously, Thorpe and Rhodes produced the cyber-phenom ElfQuest: A Fan Imagining, a short live-action production.

Cyber-phenom? Well, I don't know about that. As of now, the video has 122,614 views.



Can you imagine that on a bigger budget, with a longer runtime?

ElfQuest is now an indie film, and all that entails. Good luck to Thorpe and Rhodes. I'm certainly very curious as to how they'll be able to pull this off.

Meet Thorpe and Rhodes in this video.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDh-D4Ua7KA[/youtube]

[Blackfist]

[Victorian Squid]

I haven't read it in a long time, was Elfquest always so sexy?

Anyways, good for them, I admire their enthusiasm and what they've managed to do. I would totally watch that.

[_OM_]

...Gah. I have one word for this, but Rich has told me I can't use that term anymore.

[Hollow]

I'll bet we'll see a new Guns 'n' Rosas album before that thing will even have a theatrical trailer.

How many decades are the Pinis trying to get a movie made now?

[cmichaelhall]

I like the idea of it being an indie film (studios wouldn't get it), but I certainly hope they eventually realize that what looks good on the page doesn't always translate to the screen. Those costumes were super-accurate...and as such, super-cheesy. ADAPT the work and be true to its SPIRIT; don't be a slave to source material and forget that you're interpreting it for a new medium.

[LaPorte]

Somewhere, a really fortunate Hooters was completely devoid of servers while this cheesecake video was recorded...

[NielsVanEekelen]

The fan film is impressive for what it is, but I don't know if it's any indication that its makers can pull off a mayor, FX-heavy motion picture.

[MattMoylan]

Well, if Warner Bros ever REALLY wanted to make a movie about elves they could make up their own... it's not as if Elfquest brought any brand recognition with it.

[the_Dagman]

I'll bet we'll see a new Guns 'n' Rosas album before that thing will even have a theatrical trailer.

How many decades are the Pinis trying to get a movie made now?

Four by my count. 80s, 90s, 00s, and 10s. They were shopping the movie rights around as far back as the 80s when I did some play testing on the RPG Chaosium Games did back then. I remember the guys there were all sure it was going to be a movie soon. 25+ years later and still nothing. Still, I hope they are successful and the product is good. No such thing as too many good movies.