HBO following through with 'A Game of Thrones', purchases rights.

[Venardhi]

Now, this is hardly anything to get our panties moist about yet, but I'm still borderline ecstatic over the news. So as Tyrion said, "Give me sweet lies, and keep your bitter truths."

George R. R. Martin said (on his blog):

I have some exciting news to share.

(But please, guys and gals, don't get TOO excited. This is what it is, and so far that's all it is, so don't make any assumptions).

HBO has just exercised its option, and purchased the television rights to A GAME OF THRONES.

For those of you who don't know Hollywood, an option gives a production company the right to buy a property (a book, a screenplay, whatever) at a certain agreed-upon price for a certain period of time (a year, six months, whatever). When that time runs out, they can let the option lapse, renew the option, or exercise the option and buy the property. The last is what HBO has just done.

What they have NOT done is greenlight the project. A GAME OF THRONES remains in development. They're still budgeting, still looking at locations (Spain and the Czech Republic at present, I hear). No decision has been reached, so any celebration would be premature. In Hollywood it is always best not to assume something is going to happen until it actually happens.

Even so... this is a very encouraging sign, and one that suggests a continued high level of enthusiasm and commitment for A GAME OF THRONES at HBO.

So keep your fingers crossed.

Looking to film in Europe too. It looks like if they do it, they're going all out. With source material this good I would expect nothing less though. With Sopranos and Deadwood gone, they need a show like this.

I still hold reservations over the young cast required and budgetary concerns. . . but man this could be great.

 

[Skywalker]

Re: HBO following through with 'A Game of Thrones', puchases rights.

I just hope this doesn't turn into another Rome, where HBO decides to cancel the show because the budget's too high.

 

[Shurik]

Re: HBO following through with 'A Game of Thrones', puchases rights.

I just hope this doesn't turn into another Rome, where HBO decides to cancel the show because the budget's too high.

I'm afraid that the budget needed to properly translate the world of ASOIAF to the screen is probably much higher than Rome's budget.

 

[Venardhi]

Re: HBO following through with 'A Game of Thrones', puchases rights.

At least they have the benefit of using random old castles and whatnot, rather than having to recreate (or cgi in) specific things. There is no history book to be held to. I wonder if New Line has a few warehouses of LotR armor sitting around they can borrow.

 

[Shurik]

Re: HBO following through with 'A Game of Thrones', puchases rights.

At least they have the benefit of using random old castles and whatnot, rather than having to recreate (or cgi in) specific things. There is no history book to be held to. I wonder if New Line has a few warehouses of LotR armor sitting around they can borrow.

They can also borrow the sets of various renaissance fair villages from Stargate guys

 

[Evil Twin]

Re: HBO following through with 'A Game of Thrones', puchases rights.

Yay! Good to hear. I'm going to be SUPER happy if even at least the first book gets made.

 

[firehawk12]

Re: HBO following through with 'A Game of Thrones', puchases rights.

After HBO bailed on Preacher, I have no hope for this project to actually come to fruition.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Why? Is there a connection?

There's nothing all that religiously controversial about A Song of Ice and Fire.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Re: HBO following through with 'A Game of Thrones', puchases rights.

I just hope this doesn't turn into another Rome, where HBO decides to cancel the show because the budget's too high.

Yeah, especially with the dollar being weak. I'm not sure fantasy has a strong enough appeal to the HBO audience.

 

[Venardhi]

Re: HBO following through with 'A Game of Thrones', puchases rights.

A Game of Thrones is to Fantasy what something like Gattaca is to sci-fi. There are fantasy elements, but there are no fireballs being hurled about, no goblins or unicorns or floating islands or the like. It is all about the characters, with the setting as window dressing.

Later in the series magic becomes less rare, but only moderately so. . . most of the characters never see anything 'magic' at all.

 

[firehawk12]

Re: HBO following through with 'A Game of Thrones', puchases rights.

I just hope this doesn't turn into another Rome, where HBO decides to cancel the show because the budget's too high.

Yeah, especially with the dollar being weak. I'm not sure fantasy has a strong enough appeal to the HBO audience.

Well, the LoTR nerds would probably watch it. That's the thing with niche stuff though - people have to realize that the after market is huge.

I'm sure there are people here who own three copies of the LoTR trilogy - from the first release, the EE, and the re-release. And of course, there's also the upcoming Blu-Ray.

And anyway, if anything it'd be a nice "counter" to The Tudors.

 

[Skywalker]

Re: HBO following through with 'A Game of Thrones', puchases rights.

You got a problem with LOTR nerds or something?

 

[firehawk12]

Re: HBO following through with 'A Game of Thrones', puchases rights.

Well, nerds in general. We're suckers for this stuff. People just have to realize that they need to find a way to package the material so that they can maximize their profit in the after market.

This is an audience that will happily buy the same thing at least twice, if not more. That alone should make up for the smaller audience share.

 

[Loupjo]

Re: HBO following through with 'A Game of Thrones', puchases rights.

It would be very interesting to see this show if it got made and got the right treatment. I am usually a bit sceptical about books being turned into movies/TV but it could be good. LOTR is still something I'm not a 100% sure about but I can now more or less see the movies as something apart from the book and that does improve the viewing very much. Still, I am kind of excited about it.

 

[sidious618]

I sure hope it gets made. ASOIAF is the best fantasy series, hell the best book series, I've come across so far.

 

[FreezeC77]

All they did was re-up the option they have to potentially make a series out of the books. They didn't put the series into production or pre-production.

There's lots of things which have had their options picked up and renewed a lot over the years and don't get made or take a long time.

Wake me up when it actually goes into production and they are talking about casting for it.

I still don't see it getting made. Rome cost too much money and didn't catch on. True Blood (from what I've seen in the first two eps) is horrible and I don't see it lasting.

Every genre/niche series HBO has put out there has ended prematurely so I doubt they even make this.

 

[Venardhi]

Renewing the option is different than purchasing the rights. Renewing the option just means they get to think about it longer without worrying about competition getting it first, actually laying down the cash for the rights is a big step forward.