Reader Poll: What About Eldest?
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, RumorMonger, Box Office, Fandom, 20th Century Fox, Family Films, DIY/Filmmaking
While it might be a little too early to begin talking about a follow-up to Eragon, Fox 2000 originally dove into this fantasy novel with the intentions of turning it into a franchise -- one that would hopefully garner the attention from the teens who love Lord of the Rings and the pre-teens who love Harry Potter. Unfortunately, Eragon ran into Will Smith and his kid on the way to the office, and fell short of taking the weekend's top spot at the box office; it finished with $23 million. However, Eragon did manage to kick Casino Royale to the curb and take number one overseas with an estimated $30 million.
Yet, those numbers were nothing compared to The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring ($47 million domestically in its opening weekend) and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone ($90 million domestically in its opening weekend). Seeing as its $23 million will probably be Eragon's largest take in one weekend (especially with films like Dreamgirls, Rocky Balboa and Night at the Museum heading our way), will its final numbers (let's say $54 million domestically) be enough to warrant a sequel? Keep in mind, Eragon's budget was somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million. So, what does Fox 2000 do with Eldest, Christopher Paolini's follow-up to Eragon and the second book in his Inheritance trilogy?
Based on some reviews, folks aren't too keen on Eldest (which is essentially The Empire Strikes Back of Paolini's trilogy). Add that to the critical lashing Eragon has received over at Rotten Tomatoes (13%???) and Fox 2000 will have a very difficult decision to make, one that could ultimately tarnish Elizabeth Gabler's (President of Fox 2000) fantastic record (Unfaithful, Walk the Line and The Devil Wears Prada to name a few). With every passion project that succeeds, there's one that fails -- where does Eragon fit in?
So, I ask you: Should Fox 2000 cash in its chips and forget about Eldest? For those that have seen Eragon and read Eldest, would you be interested in seeing the follow-up make it to the big screen? Or not so much?









Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
12-18-2006 @ 11:24AM
willn said...
Please, please don't make a movie of Eldest. I happen to love the book, and unless a miracle were to happen, the movie would probably be just as horrible as Eragon.
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12-18-2006 @ 2:00PM
Jason said...
they marketed it aggressively-i saw the trailers for the game and the movie more times than i care to count. i assume they put it on a ton of screens. they paid $100M to make the thing. what else could they have done to make it sell better?
at the end of the day you just have to ask yourself how much money do you really want to lose...
For the record, FOTR easily could have been every bit as bad but somewhere along the way peter jackson and fran walsh were able to find the magic that made it work, and boy did it.
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12-18-2006 @ 8:56PM
Joseph Land said...
I agree with a lot of people that for the most part Eragon and Eldest are basically fantasy madlibs, but that doesn't mean they aren't enjoyable actually far from it.
I saw the movie and I loved the visuals, but my goodness the lines in this movie were cheesy beyond belief. The writing for this movie was horrendous. They stripped out every vestige of an original concept and they went straight to filming. This is the main reason why it felt like the watered-down bastard child of LoTR and Star Wars.
All that said, I would be interested in seeing Eldest made, as long as someone does a quality check on the screen-play beforehand.
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12-18-2006 @ 9:49PM
tony said...
It goes down to the old tug of war, quality versus money. Eragon was a flop for the main reason MANY films have been flops, terrible writing, not filmed right (1 hour 39 minutes?? come on now, Pixars cars was 2 hours.)
If they want to do eldest, do it right. Hire a quality director, and quality script person, and cast more proficently. Studios and movie companies dont understand, fans will wait 2 years, and for a 3 or more hour long movie....if it is GOOD. that entails, charater development, story relative to the book, and actors who fit the story. (speelers is NOT what anyone i belived pictured as eragon)
but putting together a rush job, just to make the money...we arent fooled as moviegoers, why do you think harry potter almost died after the horrible POA movie.
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12-19-2006 @ 3:41AM
laura said...
i would love to see a movie eldest, only if it would be as much as it should be of Saphira...cause that's the only reason whyy i like this book...because of the dragonlady Saphira, and for eldest, don't forget Thorn and Glaedr
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12-19-2006 @ 7:31AM
Dee said...
I TRIED to read the books but found them confusing...all the foreign words and such...the movie was a disaster and didn't clear-up the books at all...it's a "guy-flick"...too much testosterone for me!
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12-19-2006 @ 1:52PM
kelley jensen said...
I love fantasy. I have read all of Terry Brooks, Tolkien, Anne Mcaffrey, J.K. Rowling, etc. I did read Paolini as well. I felt his writing was very immature, his plot was loose and the story wandered too much before barely making a point. The problem with the movie lies within the book. Young Paolini needed an editor to cut the fat out of his writing and streamline the flow of the story. Paolini has a lot of potential to be a great writer if he can get a good editor. I went to see the movie in hopes that a good screen writer would see to the heart of the story and define the plot. I was disappointed. It came out as highlights, like a commercial, encouraging people to read the book. I did like the cinemtograpy and special effects. Saphira was perfect and the telepathic bond between Saphira and Eragon was done well. Sadly what could have been will never be. Just like the book, a great story was in embryo, but never revealed.
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12-19-2006 @ 8:54PM
Nicole said...
I really enjoyed the book and found the movie quite a disapointement (sp?). I TOTALLY agree w/ waht Tony posted earlier: Fox is just trying to get $. They should have followed the book more closely instead of trying to make their own version by copying LotR, Stars Wars, and Mites and Magic. I can understand if they had to make a FEW changes, but COME ON!!! They totally destroyed the movie and made it into a mindless, scriptless, and plotless movie. It was all a rush too and WAY too short to actually understand unless u have read the books. If they want to make Eldest, I would give Fox 1 piece of advice: hire a director who has had former experience w/ making book adaptations into a big screen movie and to get a screenwriter who doesn't make every line sound like it's dripping w/ cheese.
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12-19-2006 @ 9:07PM
Cody Rutledge said...
I think they should make an Eldest movie. They should get Christopher Paolini to write the script though. Because Eragon was the worst movie ever. I am sorry to say that. They left out most of the characters, put things in there that didnt belong, and what was up with Saphira's growing up. I mean that was the worst part in the movie. Not to mention that he was supposed to hear from the sage and go with Arya. So they need new directors and Christopher for the screen writer. Then Eragon was sale, sale, and SALE!!!! So I do hope they make it because it wouldnt be right to start a movie series off and not end it.. THAT IS WHAT I THINK!
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12-20-2006 @ 9:49AM
Qasim said...
You want an honest answer? Hell no. The first film shouldn't have been made in the first place. The people who read for entertainment don't realize how much of rip-off Eragon is of the classics. You want to hear everything wrong with this series? Simply go to www.anti-shurtugal.com
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12-21-2006 @ 2:44PM
Kim said...
I have read both Eragon and Eldest. I was so looking forward to seeing the Inheritance Trilogy put onto the big screen. My 11 year old son and I could not believe the screenwriter's interpretation of the movie. Many main characters were left out - 95% of the real plot line was completely ignored. No, they can't translate a 500+ page book into a movie exactly, but there was no character development whatsoever. Any who are commenting that this movie was a blatant act of plagiarism against LOTR and Star Wars are taking the screenwriters version of Eragon to heart - NOT the books. All books of fantasy will undoubtedly have similarities. The author of the Inheritance Trilogy, Christopher Paolini, created a much richer, detailed, emotion provoking world. It seems Fox has created the 'knockoff' version on their own accord, to their cost.
Yes, I would like to see Eldest on the big screen. IF it included Urgals (with horns, et. al - not the Mad Max/Braveheart renditions), more on the Dwarfs (Hrothgar,Orik), Solembum, Angela, Jeod, Horst, Katrina, the Twins, etc. Without the real, developed characters of the books, the movies WILL be flat and have too much of a feeling of deja vu. Oh, and why on earth did they have to start the movie out with Horst's sons being and Roran running from being conscripted into Galbatorix's army? For those that have not read the books, Galbatorix hasn't even been seen so far. Roran and the other Carvahall villagers have a very important roll in Eldest. I would say that if Fox goes forward with Eldest starting right where it left off in Eragon, it will no longer even be about the same works.
The dragon CG was wonderful, and for the record, my 7 year old son (who didn't want to see the movie to begin with because he's not yet interested enough in the books because of his age), loved the movie. It had plenty of action, but no real plot to relate to.
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12-22-2006 @ 12:05AM
sare said...
They should make eldest and empire. yet what they should do is take peter jackson and ask him to help thescreenwriter. then it will only be a minor piece of crap the books shouldnt be published yet in the first place
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12-23-2006 @ 2:21PM
Bobbi said...
I have yet to read the books, but as a writer, I could easily see that a majority of the book's plot was left out of the first movie. "Eragon" the movie was another example of money hungry execs, trying to cash in rather than bring us a quality movie. We witnessed this in "Star Wars 1-3", "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" and many other recent blockbusters that have focused most of their energy on technology and CGI than giving us characters and plot we care to watch.
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12-23-2006 @ 2:26PM
Matt said...
I really liked the movie eragon. I saw it twice in fact, and yes i did read the book. I was really angry the first time i saw it, and then i realized that their budget was not enough to have all of the major things in it so the second time i saw it i thought it was amazing. I REALLY REALLY REALLY want them to make ELDEST as long as they can stay closer to the book than they did with eragon. I have told my friends that they can have the entire movie messed up BUT they BETTER have the final battle scene exactly like it is in the book.
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12-23-2006 @ 3:14PM
Dave said...
I loved the books, the ONLY way i would want Eldest to be made into a movie would be for Christopher Paolini to be involved in the making of the movie so they dont change and leave out so many important characters and plots like they did in Eragon
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12-23-2006 @ 3:56PM
Nate said...
I loved the book eragon. the movie ended up stinking. The urgals didnt have horn and the dwarves were tall. Most of the best scenes were cut out. I give the movie 1.5 stars.
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12-23-2006 @ 4:03PM
Mark said...
The fact that everyone's going gaga over this kid's plagerism is beyond me. I think a reviewer got it best when he randomly inserted Star Wars/LOTR/Harry Potter names, jargon and plot points into the film's review. I don't mind getting involved in a new fantasy...but can it be just a little original?
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12-23-2006 @ 4:42PM
robert said...
i did see the movie last weekend myself and and i saw it was just not able to measure up to shoes like harry potter and the LOTR witch was both by great english authers. It just seems that anything american made in fantasy with the execptiom of the dragon riders of pern and tales of earthsea series just seem to take to much elements from the stories mentioned. However on the other hand, i hear that the dark crystal may have two new movies out by 2008 so hope that will be a winner.
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12-23-2006 @ 4:50PM
aryya said...
i think they SHOULD make eldest....at the very least ppl will c wut its like compared with eragon...and rowan narnia was written waay b4 the HP books(which i happen 2 b a fan of)...i cant say if it was like LOTR, as i've never read/seen it/them....w.e....o, and i agree with dave....SOO much was left out that could've been put in...there were NO dwarves...murtagh didnt seem the slightest um,,w.e. the word is...worried i guess about being w/ the varden...AAND murtagh and the twins(which arent even in the movie) didnt go underground...and ajihad didnt die...personally, i like who the actor was 4 ajihad--its perfect! oh, and does any1 no if the 3rd book is out? aand if not, when it will cum out?
igive the movie 3 stars bc if u've never seen/read HP or LOTR, then its ok..aand bc ajihad was so--incharacter
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12-23-2006 @ 5:03PM
Fulton said...
could have been a great movie but too much was cut. Also - Elves looked like humans, Dwarfs looked like humans and Urgals looked like? You guessed it Humans (albe it humans that found their dates a few times too many at family reunions but still humans) They just stripped too much from the book for it to make since and besides they left so much out that is major plots for Eldest I dont see how they can make it.
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