T.A. Barron’s epic Pentology, The Lost Years of Merlin, may become a movie in the somewhat-near future. Paramount Pictures, as T.A. Barron writes, has obtained filming rights to the series.

Mr. Barron states that “the project could not be in better hands,” and that Paramount “understand[s] the power and depth of young Merlin - and they also know how to make spectacular movies.”

There is virtually no information yet, not even an IMDB page, as Barron has only optioned-out filming rights. Paramount may or may not actually make this movie, as there’s a long road between acquiring rights and starting production.

Until recently, I didn’t know that a The Dark is Rising Movie was in the works, until I heard it was slated for an October release this year. When I first saw the IMDB listing I thought “Cool.” Then I watched the trailer.

Okay, this movie is not The Dark is Rising (read the book yourself). Here are a a few points:

• In the book, Will Stanton lives in a Buckinghamshire, England. In the movie, he’s an American who just moved to England.
• Merriman Lyon is supposed to be an old, wise, Merlin-like character. Why does he look like Aragorn in the movie?
• The Dark is Rising has a serious Arthurian base. Does the movie? NO!
• The Old Ones’ magic is subtle and powerful, they don’t throw fireballs and blow things up.
• Will Stanton doesn’t have an iPod. Why the heck did the “modernize” it?
• Will Stanton is supposed to be wise, despite being only 11. In the movie he’s 13, and very un-wise. He’s too “typical American 12-year-old.” Sorry, Walden Media, thanks for playing.
• What happened to keeping the powers of the Light secret? In the film, Will (”disgusted at not being able to tell anyone”) blows up a car.
• Will Stanton, in the movie, is basically Superman without the power of flight. Oh, andhere’s a quote from the actual movie: “Can I fly?”
• Merriman Lyon “relies on wit, magic, other Old Ones, knowledge, experience, etc.” In the movie he relies on a bit of magic and a mace, his favorite weapon.

You can see more differences here.

Maybe they should change the name to “The Seeker: A film loosely based on The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper.” How can they get rid of the Arthurian base? The whole series revolves around that! Why did they think they had to change the characters beyond recognition? Hollywood magic instead of the subtle variety in the books? How could they?

The Seeker: The Dark is Rising is yet another movie “based” off an otherwise great book. Thank you, Walden Media, for giving us a Narnia/Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings/Superman/any fantasy film on the planet knockoff instead of The Dark is Rising.

Edit: Just a note. A bunch of IMDB forum users have been saying that the Dark is Rising series is “basically Harry Potter,” except DIR has been around since the ’70s. If you know how to read, then it’s apparent that they’re in no way similar.

Just a quick heads-up. The upcoming Indiana Jones film (May 2008 release) has been given the title “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” IMDB Page.

Remember Batman Begins? My personal favorite of the Batman movies, it was a bit different from the others. At the end, Gordon gives batman “a calling card” found at the scene of a robbery (if I remember correctly). It was a single card from a deck…the Joker.

In The Dark Knight, slated for an ‘08 release, we see what seems to be the beginning of The Joker in the Batman films. It’s a bit odd, though. They don’t seem to be simply remaking the Batfilms, but making a new, different, one. It’s not supposed to fit in with the old movies, obviously. Why not? In the original Batman movie, Bruce Wayne had not prior meeting with The Joker. So what’s going on? They’re making a sort of parallel series that’s different from the old ones. Basically, Batman Begins was the start of a new series of Batman films that are different from the old ones.

Whatever.

“It is the Alethiometer. It tells the truth. As for how to read it, you’ll have to learn by yourself.”

New Line Cinema, the company that made The Lord of the Lings movie, is at it again. Further building their reputation for fantasy films, they’ll soon be releasing a movie based on Phillip Pullman’s The Golden Compass.

When I was at the movie theater, waiting for a matinée of Pirates of the Caribbean 3 to start, I was surprised to see the trailer for The Golden Compass. Unaware that a movie was being made, I had been just about ready to start reading the book.

The trailer was amazing, living up to the standards of Lord of the Rings. You can view it at IMDB.

The book was pretty good (I just finished reading it yesterday), and the movie looks like it’ll be just as good. We’ll see in December, I guess.

It’s not much longer. May 25th is coming up soon.

That’s right, Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End is coming out soon. We’ve got a trailer, a general plot synopsis, and some still images. IMDB has them all.

In Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (POTC3), Barbossa, Will, and Elizabeth sail to the edge of the world to get Jack Sp Captain Jack Sparrow back. Soon after, they must fight Lord Beckett of the East India Trading Company and Davy Jones. Beckett has the Heart of Davy Jones, remember? Unable to do it alone, they bring together the great Pirate Lords from the four corners of the world. Grab your cutlass and get ready.

Will POTC3 be the highest-grossing movie this year, as it’s predecessor did? Who knows, it looks like it will be a better movie than Dead Man’s Chest. Personally, I didn’t think Dead Man’s Chest was anywhere near as good of a movie as the first film. Judging by the trailer, At World’s End will be a much better film. The trailer is available here if you wish to watch it (why wouldn’t you?).

The best of the Harry Potter films will soon be in theaters. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the 5th Harry Potter movie, will hit theaters July 13, 2007. Don’t even think “not another Harry Potter movie”! The Harry Potter series is much better in book format (if you haven’t read all of them, you have no right to make any judgment about them). After seeing tons of promotional images, and the trailer, I’m totally convinced that this is the best of all the Harry Potter movies so far. It makes sense, seeing that the fifth and third are the best of the books.

The special effects look good so far, but it’s hard to tell about the camerawork with only the trailers to go off. This series has gotten better with each movie, so again I’m not surprised about how good it looks.

The director, David Yates, is expected to direct the sixth movie as well. There will be seven Harry Potter movies, one of each book.