Dragonriders of Pern Movie | What We Know… Not Much!
In our quest to be a media / news outlet for entertainment and pop culture, The Two Gay Geeks want to let you know of any news we receive about the perennial / potential/ possible/ persistent rumors about the making of a Dragonriders of Pern movie. This topic comes up frequently and we are committed to bringing you any and all news about this and other popular topics.
I have done some research on the topic and have discovered that it is apparently in what is referred to as “Development Hell”, at least by the dearth of new information. The last real reporting on the film was when Warner Bros. announced they had optioned the rights from the estate of Anne McCaffrey. That was in July of 2014, which we reported on here.
I have tried to piece together a timeline of what has happened with the options and development that we have discovered.
There are several dates of options prior to Warner Bros. picking up the option in 2014. Those date back 2006 and 2011. The official option date for Warner Bros. was August 15, 2014 with a treatment by Sara Cornwell written and completed on November 19, 2014. Since that time, there are a number of dates of updated script activity with the most recent being February 1, 2017. The Production company prior to Warners options was to be Copperheart Entertainment out of Toronto. Whether they are still in play with Warner is yet to be seen and is not clear.
The synopsis they have is:
On search for a young woman to ride the last queen dragon on Pern, F’lar finds Lessa, a unique young woman who must save an entire species, the dragons, so they can fulfill their most important function… Saving the world from a menace that could destroy it completely.
Interstingly enough, there was mention of a Dragonriders of Pern movie in an interview with Gigi McCaffrey, Anne McCaffrey’s daughter. Gigi has picked up the mantle and has released a new book in the series entitled Dragon’s Code. It was published in October of 2018. She has also written another book attached to the series in 2013. The interview was with SyFy.com and published October 4, 2018. In the interview she had this to say:
Over the years we’ve had a lot of people interested in putting Pern on the screen. I’d love to see dragons on the big screen but all those cogs haven’t fallen into place yet. We’ve gotten so close in the past. Even with CGI as developed as it is, it would be a really big budget. At the end of the day, I know when Hollywood has been involved they’ve had this problem with dragons.
We’ve had loads of interest in recent years. “Watch this space,” I suppose is what I can say. I don’t know what’s going to happen but I hope that the cogs fall in place and the universe gives us a Pern in a fantastic series or on the big screen or through some streaming service.
Todd McCaffrey, son of Anne McCaffrey has written a number of Pern related books under the subtitle of “A New Story of Pern”.
So, there you have it. Sorry it is not much information but, I suppose there is still hope with the advancements in technology. Specifically, those used for the Game of Thrones dragons. We may yet see a Dragonriders of Pern movie before the sun burns out.
With the sucesses of the LoTRs and GoTs franchises I’d love to see a Pern-based movie. There’s so much source material, the CGI is up-to-snuff to look good, and the market has shown an appetite for more adult themes in it’s tastes.
All the Pern novels are fodder for movies. Start with leaving earth Star Trek style and audience will be hooked.
The film adaptation needs to be patterned after Game of Thrones. With so many beloved books in the Dragonriders series, a single film would never do them justice! Lord of the Rings did a fair job, but they broke up The Hobbit into 3 movies because of the depth of the content.
The only reason I can think of for the Development Hell bit is that the McCaffrey estate is holding fast to Anne’s mandate on any characteristics in the film must be faithful to the book. In other words, Hollywood can’t rewrite her world. You have to wonder why any studio would want to, but based on what we’ve seen come out of there…
You never know what some Hollywood types are going to do. I remember watching Clear and Present Danger (Tom Clancy) and thinking “Wow they totally screwed up one of the major subplots for Sum of All Fears”, then when SoAF came out the really butchered it.
IMHO, Peter Jackson did a great job “sticking to the script” in the LOTR trilogy. I read the books soon after they came out and was thrilled to see the characters (including the orcs and other difficult-to-imagine characters) pretty close to what I thought they’d look and act like. Anne McCaffrey’s books held just as much detail, I would think a producer of Mr. Jackson’s caliber could pull this off. And yes, we have the technology – The dragons and the snake in Harry Potter were pretty convincing. I would dearly love to see a movie (or three, or …) true to form with the books. Anything less would be a disappointment.
I felt the same way. I think of LOTR as some of the best movies I have ever seen (I’m 68 BTW, so that quite a few movies)
I have been hoping for a Pern movie for a long time, but there is always the fear that they will screw it up. There is plenty of material for many movies. Here’s hoping!
Personally I think it would a great movie if done with style with an amazing number of stories from all the books