So it looks like if Series 5 is the final series it looks like there'll be a movie as well.
Merlin Movie Possible?
- Thread starter Bob The Skutter
- Start date
So it looks like if Series 5 is the final series it looks like there'll be a movie as well.
Hopefully now she's an actual bad guy and not trying to be sly she can get away with the "I'm evil and no one knows it" smirk.
Hm, it's a good tv show, but I don't think it works as a movie unless they turn up the production value significantly.
^Well apparently Uther is still there but Arthur is King in all but name.
Hit befel in the dayes of Vther pendragon when he was kynge of all Englond / and so regned that there was a myȝty duke in Cornewaill that helde warre ageynst hym long tyme / And the duke was called the duke of Tyntagil / and so by meanes kynge Vther send for this duk / chargyng hym to brynge his wyf with hym / for she was called a fair lady / and a passynge wyse / and her name was called Igrayne
Malory. Long-winded bastard. Stuff the myth, I say.
The problem with a Merlin movie unless it's made for TV is it still has a fairly limited knowledge outside the UK, and especially for a production of such scale and budget you still need to court that North American - or, more precisely, US market. A few years back they revived the St. Trinian's movie series with two all-star movies (one with David Tennant and both featuring rising star Juno Temple) but they never got distributed to theatres in North America and only got direct-to-DVD release, and as a result while I'm very happy to be corrected (I loved the two films) I assume that's that for the Trinian's franchise. Merlin has a fanbase over here, of course - though I can't tell you who airs it in the US - but before they do a movie they need to increase its awareness in North America. That means, among other things, get Series 3 out on DVD over here, and take a few pages out of the Doctor Who playbook and get the actors on some of the US talk shows (I'm sure Craig Ferguson would be happy to do the Awkward Pause with Katie McGrath) and set up US screenings of Series 4. (I wouldn't go so far as to film an episode over here, though - but having said that those two episodes Doctor Who shot in Utah did pay dividends in increasing awareness of that show in the US.)
I'd be all for a movie otherwise, assuming there are no more stories to tell in the TV series (and assuming they stick to the atmosphere of the series - I really don't want to see Merlin go all Game of Thrones on us). Glad to hear we're getting a fifth season, and that Series 4 isn't being delayed as originally announced. (When Doctor Who's split season was announced the BBC had said Merlin would have a gap year in 2011 as a result, but that's no longer the case.)
Alex
I'd be all for a movie otherwise, assuming there are no more stories to tell in the TV series (and assuming they stick to the atmosphere of the series - I really don't want to see Merlin go all Game of Thrones on us). Glad to hear we're getting a fifth season, and that Series 4 isn't being delayed as originally announced. (When Doctor Who's split season was announced the BBC had said Merlin would have a gap year in 2011 as a result, but that's no longer the case.)
Alex
Couldn't spell either.
It's true that MERLIN only airs on the Syfy Channel here in the States. On the other hand, the basic concepts of Merlin, Camelot, Arthur, ecetera are so familiar to the general public that, conceivably, people might go to see a MERLIN movie even if they had never heard of the tv show, assuming the ads and trailers were enticing enough.
It's not like anybody at the multiplex is likely to scratch their heads and go "Merlin? What's a Merlin?"
You'd just have to come up with an ad campaign that didn't assume advance knowledge of the tv show.
It's not like anybody at the multiplex is likely to scratch their heads and go "Merlin? What's a Merlin?"
You'd just have to come up with an ad campaign that didn't assume advance knowledge of the tv show.
It has a huge profile internationally, has sold to something like 100 countries, I believe. It airs on Syfy in the US and seems to average around 1.6m viewers, and why do you assume it has to have a US audience to be a success? The Inbetweeners is on a digital channel in the UK, has no where near the audience of Merlin and has just had a £5m movie made, which has made around £30m in the UK alone.
yeah, goddamn Yanks always being so ethno-centric. you can make a movie elsewhere and still make a shit ton of money without it going stateside. how do you think all those Chinese and Indian studios keep making movies without them ever getting to the US? they make mucho moolah in their country or neighbouring countries.
they could easily make a Merlin movie for about 20 million quid and make the money back plus a profit off the UK take alone!
i think this is great news, I'd love a Merlin movie. some nice epic tale with lots of knight action and dragons and magic and stuff.
they could easily make a Merlin movie for about 20 million quid and make the money back plus a profit off the UK take alone!
i think this is great news, I'd love a Merlin movie. some nice epic tale with lots of knight action and dragons and magic and stuff.
I can't see the Merlin cast doing much in terms of global box office (which is how everything is judged nowadays; even Captain America made half his BO overseas, a 50/50 split being standard). They're not well known and they really don't have the screen presence to come across in a big-budget movie.
There have been a slew of Arthurian legend movies of course, but here's the more likely way a Merlin-centric movie would be made: with the visual style of 300, lots huge dragons and other critters to fight while everything blows up, and Shia LeBoeuf or maybe Justin Timberlake in the lead. If you don't insist on him being young, maybe Johnny Depp or Keanu Reeves would work.
There have been a slew of Arthurian legend movies of course, but here's the more likely way a Merlin-centric movie would be made: with the visual style of 300, lots huge dragons and other critters to fight while everything blows up, and Shia LeBoeuf or maybe Justin Timberlake in the lead. If you don't insist on him being young, maybe Johnny Depp or Keanu Reeves would work.
"Merlin" is a global brand name, so if Hollywood wanted to make a movie about him, it could work just fine. But the TV series really doesn't have anything they can use to make a successful movie with global appeal, which is what Hollywood always shoots for now. Transformers with dragons is what works globally.
I thought you were being ironic. Haven't you noticed that there's no such thing as an "American" film industry anymore? Everything Hollywood produces is aimed at getting that 50/50 split (with stuff like the Transformer movies getting far more foreign than domestic BO). If Hollywood made a Merlin movie, it would be aimed at the global market, not at American or British audiences in particular. Why limit your range? A show about a powerful sorcerer in some misty ancient time could have cross-cultural appeal, as long as you amp the explosions and scale back anything that would be confusing to folks in Jakarta or Rio. Details from a TV show 99% of your audience has never heard of would definitely be confusing.
They focus on their own cultures, that's how. I'm sure there are legends in China and India about powerful sorcerers, so why would they bother to make a movie about Merlin and not their own guys? Unlike America, they still have an industry that makes movies for their own domestic market.
^It's not a Hollywood movie, it won't have a hundred million dollar budget. It won't have to bring in half a billion to be successful.
Oh it would be an art film then. I guess there's still room for the little movies as well. Makes me wonder why they don't just make it for TV and show it there. Would theater owners be happy to show a movie with limited appeal when they could be showing the latest blow-em-up extravaganza instead? The way the movie biz is going, theater owners have to maximize every showing.
^As I said a bit further up thread. The Inbetweeners, a British TV show, on a digital channel with a much smaller audience than Merlin, has just had a film released a month ago and taken around £30m just in the UK. The budget was £3m so you see a successful movie based on a TV show with "limited appeal".
yay for more ethnocentrism. just because Hollywood does it that way, doesn't mean a British film has to.
a moderately budgeted Merlin movie made for the UK could easily be a success in the UK and Ireland and then do a decent amount overseas in say, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and America.
and just because it's not a 100million dollar blockbuster doesn't mean it's an 'art movie'.
was Hot Fuzz an 'art movie'? or Shaun of the Dead? what about Love Actually? or Four Weddings and a Funeral?
a clue. no.
they were moderately budgeted British movies which made most or all of their money in the UK and then made more overseas.
the American way is not the only way.
a moderately budgeted Merlin movie made for the UK could easily be a success in the UK and Ireland and then do a decent amount overseas in say, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and America.
and just because it's not a 100million dollar blockbuster doesn't mean it's an 'art movie'.
was Hot Fuzz an 'art movie'? or Shaun of the Dead? what about Love Actually? or Four Weddings and a Funeral?
a clue. no.
they were moderately budgeted British movies which made most or all of their money in the UK and then made more overseas.
the American way is not the only way.