Cool News
UA picks up the rights to Australian fantasy series RANGER'S APPRENTICE and picks... Paul Haggis?
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I've never ever heard of this series, called RANGER'S APPRENTICE, before and the brief rundown doesn't exactly float my boat. It's about an orphan boy who becomes an apprentice ranger and has to protect a mythical kingdom alongside his master.
United Artists has picked up the rights and pre-strike were working out a deal with Paul Haggis to adapt and direct the first of the series. An odd choice, to be sure. I don't have a hate boner for Haggis, but I don't exactly have a love one for him, either.
A deal wasn't locked, but they expect to pick up again shortly.
Hopefully the books have some to offer that isn't in the brief description. I'm sure there must be something there, right? Any fans of the series feel free to talkback below and let me know if I should be more excited.
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FINALLY!! FIRST
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for good measure
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What's all this about Austrian rangers??
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Could that plot synopsis scream 'generic fantasy' any more?
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Slow news day huh guys?
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A professional hockey player from NYC saves a mythical kingdom? Fuck man, Hollywood really is out of good ideas.
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I miss that guy.
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Put Richard Roxburgh in it! He's a dad now! :D
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If this is the series I think it is, it's a young adult, coming-of-age series. It's very much bog-standard, modern fantasy lit. The fantasy world is a blatant pastiche of real-world Europe, for instance.
Now, as I understand it, the author originally started the series to encourage his son to practice his reading skills. As such, the series (I've only skimmed a bit of the first book) seems full of "cool" moments, lots of action and exploration, and moves at a fairly good clip. There's a lot to be said for writing for a demanding audience. But this ain't LotR. It's not even Narnia. It was never trying to be.
The target audience is most likely the early teen crowd that's grown up reading Harry Potter. I imagine many of them will love it, given a decent budget, script, and acting. -
After all, the man brought us Due South!
(And heck, Walker, Texas Ranger wasn't soo bad) -
million dollar baby, bond 21
come on guys -
I think the guy's pretty good with character and especially structure, but that constant need to preach gets tiresome real quick.
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Really?
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since that's what his career basically is...
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How many movies with young kids discovering magical worlds and monsters and garbage like that have come out or are in production? I don't ever watch them, but last year there were literally 20+ announced, it was absurd, they're fucking everywhere. Spiderwick Chronicles, Eragon, Bridge to Terabithia, The Dark is Rising, The Golden Compass, this loch ness monster movie, the Narnia movies (which are probably responsible along with Harry Potter), and i am fucking forgetting a ton too, there are so many. Someone should make a list and send it to all the studios sealed with anthrax. There were no kids in Lord of the Rings! Hobbits are not children, they're just small. People say that "The Golden Compass" was trying to get the same market as Lord of the Rings, but how did they expect to do if that if they were following a little girl around the whole time? Where are the ADULT fantasy movies? With warhammers and beheadings and actual battles, and adults kicking ass? Beowulf is the closest thing to it since LOTR. That is what people want to see. Not fucking kids. Enough.
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will the haggis put die-a-netics in the script?
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how about this, kids: just read the book. you don't need to see the movie version of it. whatever's in your imagination is JUST FINE. write your local congressman about this. and while you're at it, write tom 'tommy girl' cruise and tell him the same thing so his dumb studio stops perpetrating the problem!
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It's made over $60 million return for an investment of $180 million.
That's on the record, Hollyweird executives. So any of you who greenlight more such material are putting your jobs on the line.
And don't give the little kid a bowl-cut hairdo.
Shave his head and give him some ugly tats.
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Jan 06, 2008 12:51:10 AM CST
We can never forgive the horror he subjected into our lives
by monkeybrains
Crash
Of course, if you have nothing in your brain then the constant beating that movie gave you would not hurt.
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i live in australia and haven't even heard of this rubbish. the wiki article doesn't raise my interest either.
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The film might be doing shit in the USA but WW its made $200mil and stands a chance of breaking even
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I think that's a better title
"You fired! Roundhouse Kick!" -
Jan 06, 2008 11:07:10 PM CST
Anyone remember EZ Streets? Haggis did that with Kevin Olin
by stormwatcher
It was solid, lasted like 10 episodes. Had great music. That was one of those shows I'd like to get on DVD.
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He started with Ranger? Its in his blood?
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The Ranger's Apprentice book series was written by John Flanagan. Longtime TV viewers in Australia will probably most remember John Flanagan as the co-creator of the longest running Aussie sitcom in the '80s, 'Hey Dad..!'.
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never watched an australian fantasy, but Mad Max is pretty cool. Gotta love that down under weirdness
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Jan 07, 2008 2:10:12 AM CST
If you want fantasy for grown-ups, you'll have to wait for HBO's
by nerdgasm
A Song of Fire and Ice series from George R. R. Martin. Lots of cursing, killing and fucking. Of course, all these kiddie movies will start flopping and some dumb dickhead suit at HBO will probably shit themselves and drop the project. I make that prediction now.
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So I went through the talkback and see that pretty much no one knows shit about this series...well I've read every book so far, even the ones is Australia that haven't yet been released here in the US and so I'm just writing in to say that the series is pretty good. It's been awhile since I've read the first one, but I'll try to give a sort of synopsis.
The story is kind of set up like Lord of the Rings style with the setting and way of life for everyone. It's centered around this boy named Will. He's an oprhan, along with several other kids his age. In the story, the king of their land takes in the orphans until they're of a certain age, when they are then able to become apprentices or join the military, so long as the masters of those trades accepts. So when it comes down to it Will becomes a Ranger's apprentice. The ranger's are like a sort of CIA, work under the radar. The stay to the shadows (have cloaks that blend in with surroundings), are fast, deadly archers, skilled fighters at close combat, and keep an eye on all matters of their kingdom, solely reporting to their king. So thats the basic premise. The first book, if I remember correctly, is about this evil guy who was a general of one of the kingdoms in the land, turned traitor and banished, who is building an army to try and conquer the country. (I forget the country's name, but it holds like 15-20 kingdoms) So Will and his master basically uncover the plot and try to stop him. There is a bunch of fighting and he's temporarily stopped. That's book one. Now, since I'm on a roll... Book two is about them officially stopping him, thought at the end Will and the daughter of the king are captured and become prisoners of war on a distant land. Book three is about Will's master and a few others setting out to try and find them and rescue them, while Will and the princess begin to discover a plot by people from a bordering counrty to destroy the people they are prisoners of. Book four is about Will and his master, the princess, and the others being reunited and then ending up helping the people that originally captured Will (now, long-story, companions) fight for their country. And finally books five and six are about Will, now a full-fledged Ranger fighting to save his country from invasion. If you give the series a chance then you'll probably enjoy it. They are aimed at the young-adult audience, but a general fan of fantasy would probably enjoy them too. :) -
Jan 07, 2008 11:38:29 AM CST
How this guy gets any respect after Crash is beyond me...
by straighttohell
that had to be the most unoriginal, insupid, dull, listless, pointless, witless, most superficial films ever made about race relations in cinema history. The guy has no ear for realistic dialogue and no concept of subtlety. How ever ever won an Oscar is beyond me. That just shows that the Academy knows nothing of real talent. It's just amazing to me how many critics bought his tripe. I guess none of them ever listened how real people talk and none of them ever seen black people being nice to whites and vice versa.
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