In today’s installment of our continuing series, Hollywood! Adapt This, we’ll talk about a trilogy of novels that has somehow managed to avoid even a conversation about possible film adaptation.  The author behind the books, Joe Abercrombie, has stated that he’d be more than happy to see his fantasy novels turned into a film but “no one seems to be listening.”  As a fan of the first trilogy and beyond, I’m frankly amazed that no producer has stumbled across them, especially considering how visually rich and cinematic the scenes are.  With the exception of HBO’s Game of Thrones, there’s a real dearth of original fantasy projects in TV and films these days, having been shoved aside by sci-fi and superheroes.  Hit the jump to see how Abercrombie’s The Blade Itself could carve out a place.  Hollywood! Adapt this: The First Law Trilogy.

In adaptation-related news this week, we learned that director Takashi Shimizu will be at the helm for a live-action feature of Kiki’s Delivery Service and that J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot was bidding on the TV rights to Stephen King’s time-traveling alt-history tome, 11/22/63.  Today’s installment of Hollywood! Adapt This features another revisionist history  that isn’t contained in just one volume, but rather spread out over twenty-some issues.  This sci-fi superhero anthology series dates back to 1987 and continues still today with Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin acting as contributor and editor.  What’s it all about?  Hit the jump to find out.  Hollywood! Adapt this: Wild Cards. 

Earlier this week you may have read the announcement that Universal is developing a remake of Weird Science.  That particular project never crossed my mind for Hollywood! Adapt This, but it actually has a sliver of commonality with today’s installment.  While not exactly a household name, author Paolo Bacigalupi has quickly risen through the ranks of respectable sci-fi writers and, like all good sci-fi, his stories are both visually striking and contextually relevant to contemporary issues.  Set in 23rd century Thailand, Bacigalupi’s award-winning debut novel takes place in a world drastically altered by global warming, devoid of most fossil fuels and ravaged by worldwide failures of genetically-modified crops.  Sound familiar?  Hit the jump for more.  Hollywood! Adapt this: The Windup Girl.

Today’s installment of Hollywood! Adapt This is all about fun and games.  One of the best parts of growing up in the 80s and 90s was the wealth of game shows on TV that were aimed at kids.  The shows were exciting, energetic and often even informative as they combined contests of physical activity with brain teasers and trivia challenges.  While there were plenty of game shows to choose from for possible reboots or adaptations into other another medium, only one stands out from the pack…mostly because it featured a giant talking carved stone head.  Hit the jump to get reacquainted with Olmec.  Hollywood!  Adapt this: Legends of the Hidden Temple.

On today’s installment of Hollywood! Adapt This, we’re going to get a little more obscure and talk about a mid-90s television series that took an Earthbound teenager and transported him into a parallel world.  Rather than being a straight “fish out of water” series, the protagonist uses his knowledge of high school science to combat the ruling class of the world, known as Spellbinders.  It was a fun bit of Medieval fantasy mixed up with wacky scientific inventions worthy of Nikola Tesla himself.  Hit the jump to find out more.  Hollywood! Adapt this: Spellbinder.

Visionary animator Genndy Tartakovsky has been a creative force behind such popular series as The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory and Star Wars: Clone Wars.  Last fall, Tartakovsky also made a successful foray into animated feature films with the box office-and-family-friendly horror hit, Hotel Transylvania.  With his pedigree of small-screen series and recent experience with a full-length animated production, it seems the time is ripe for a conclusion to one of Tartakovsky’s most unique and iconic creations.  Hit the jump to find out where it stands.  Hollywood! Adapt this: Samurai Jack.

The original plan for today’s Hollywood! Adapt This article went out the window this week as I got sucked into an anime series about bionically-enhanced police officers taking on all manner of cyber-terrorists in a future where it seems that no one is 100% human any longer.  Since this particular series was an outgrowth of an earlier feature anime (which in turn was based on a popular manga), I went back to the original film adaptation to see if a live-action update would be possible.  Hit the jump to find out.  Hollywood! Adapt this: Ghost in the Shell. 

Even after the 1990s animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers had its run and gained fans worldwide, humanity still continues to fuck up the planet.  The Amazon rain forest remains threatened, animal species march toward extinction due to human interference, and weather events grow ever more extreme.  It seems that our generation missed the message or chose to do nothing about it.  Time for a reminder.  Today’s suggestion deviates from previous installments which were based mostly out of a nostalgic desire to see reboots of shows and movies from my childhood.  Instead, this re-imagining comes out of a necessity of shaking people out of their complacency with environmental issues and into action.  Hollywood! Adapt this: Captain Planet and the Planeteers. 

A lot of Hollywood reboots get flak for being quick cash grabs that capitalize on nostalgia for easy money.  While this might actually be the case for a number of projects, occasionally we get some original programming that is clear about the intention of selling merchandise.  Like one of our previous adaptation suggestions in Tyco’s Dino-Riders, today’s installment of Hollywood! Adapt This has toys at the heart of its story.  This one’s for every kid out there who wished he or she had a magical cap that would instantly transport them anywhere in the world.  Hit the jump to find out why being the cap-bearer comes with more troubles than just hat hair.  Hollywood! Adapt this: Mighty Max!

With James Mangold’s much-anticipated The Wolverine opening on July 26th and Marvel’s continued success with solo superhero films, the door is wide open for some lesser-known heroes to take to the screen.  While Logan is easily the most popular and famous of the X-Men, he’s able to carry a solo film in part because his character is not defined by being a team player…quite the opposite.  So today we’ll make a case for another X-Man who has a fantastic backstory that’s not directly tied into the mutant team and possesses more than enough personality to shoulder a standalone film.  Hit the jump to find out more.  Hollywood!  Adapt this: Marvel’s ragin’ Cajun, Gambit.

A couple weeks ago on “Hollywood! Adapt This!,” we brought up the idea of adapting the Tyco animated series Dino-Riders as a live-action adaptation.  This week, we’ll go from dino riding to dino hunting!  Believe it or not, this particular character has been around for almost sixty years in comic form, although he was introduced to a whole new generation with a line of video games spanning a number of systems.  There have been six games released over 10 years, but it’s been almost five years since any whispers of a live-action movie adaptation.  How has this property managed to escape the movie treatment?  Find out after the jump.  Hollywood! Adapt this: Turok: Dinosaur Hunter.

Last week on Hollywood! Adapt This! we brought up the idea of the global phenomenon of Pokémon for a live-action feature reboot.  This week we’ll go way more obscure and talk about a series of short stories from the early 1950s that were previously adapted into one feature film and a television series in the early 1960s.  At the center of the comedic stories about failed relationships was a teenage boy and his beatnik friend.  Over half a century later, it’s time for a fresh look at this property.  Hit the jump to find out more. Hollywood! Adapt this: The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

Here at Hollywood! Adapt This! we try to bring attention to obscure and vintage properties in need of a reboot or new adaptation.  Pokémon certainly doesn’t need our help gaining awareness as it’s one of the more popular properties of the last two decades, but as it approaches its 17th anniversary, the franchise could use a little freshening up.  Although there have been 14 Pokémon movies with a 15th on its way, there has yet to be a live-action feature that brings the titular pocket monsters to life on the big screen.  Hit the jump to catch ‘em all.  Hollywood! Adapt this: Pokémon!

With the recent news that Jurassic Park IV will be bringing dinosaurs back to the screen next summer, it’s only a matter of time before we start seeing an uptick in dino-related toys and games.  Such was the case in 1988 when toy company Tyco sought to produce an animated series as promotional material for a new toy line.  What we got was a highly enjoyable and completely insane mash-up of time travel, space battles, alien humanoids and frickin’ dinosaurs with frickin’ lasers on their heads!  Hit the jump to harness the power of dinosaurs!  Hollywood!  Adapt this: Dino-Riders!

Since his introduction in Detective Comics #27 in May of 1939, the masked vigilante known as Batman has also been called the Caped Crusader and the Dark Knight.  However, another nickname for Bats has been thrown around for a number of years, but we’ve yet to see it fully realized on the screen.  Of course, I’m talking about Batman as the “World’s Greatest Detective.”  (I think Mr. Sherlock Holmes might have something to say about that.)  For the sake of answering the question as to whether or not this is an appropriate nickname for Bats (and for a fresh outlook on the property), I think it’s time for a more cerebral adaptation of Batman.  Hit the jump for what’s sure to be a lively discussion on the topic.  Hollywood! Adapt this: Batman as “The World’s Greatest Detective.”