The first Wheel of Time movie could possibly be released in 2011
19 Jan 2010 
60 Comments
When the Lord of the Rings movies were released a few years ago I’d hoped that it would spawn a wave of adult-oriented fantasy movies. Sadly, most of the fantasy movies that came out since then (Harry Potter, The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Golden Compass, Eragon, The Chronicles of Narnia, etc.) were weak adaptations catering for younger viewers.
That trend might change, though. Universal Pictures acquired the rights to Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series last year in a seven-figure deal, and they plan to adapt the first book in the series, The Eye of the World, to a movie format soon. The Eye of the World movie will be produced in part by Rick Selvage and Larry Mondragon of Red Eagle Entertainment, the company that published graphic novel versions of the books.
Additionally, Red Eagle Entertainment is planning to release a line of stand-alone Wheel of Time games for all major videogame platforms, as well as a massively multiplayer online role-playing game encompassing the themes, characters and world of the Wheel of Time novels.
In The Eye of the World, the peaceful villagers of Emond’s Field pay little heed to rumors of war in the western lands until a savage attack by monstrous minions of the Dark One forces three young men to confront a destiny which has its origins in an ancient time known as The Breaking of the World.
Robert Jordan, the author of the books, passed away at the age of 58 due to amyloidosis before he could finish the last book in the series. The task (and Jordan’s copious notes) to finish the book was handed down to Brandon Sanderson who did an excellent job of keeping to Jordan’s method of storytelling. The final book ended up being divided into three books due to its length, the first of which was published in October 2009 at 800+ pages.
So far the movie is only in pre-production; There’s an IMDB profile for The Eye of the World, but it doesn’t have much information yet except for a possible 2011 release date.
If the first Wheel of Time movies are as well-produced as Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, the series’ 15 books could easily become the greatest series of epic fantasy movies yet.
“The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.”
Related posts:
author
http://www.wotmud.org
Thanks for mentioning the Wheel of Time MUD, Elijah!
I tried it out a bit now, it can be quite fun.
Im stoked to hear about this movie. the books are amazing. im even more excited about the RPG idea.
I think it would be another huge step in Fantasy Movies and if directed and produced right it’ll be making plenty of money and bring many the joy of seeing it.
Wotmud.org!!! I have been playing for 10 years.
Hey I’d love to be an extra in this movie. Just tell
I just hope they don’t pull a “Series of Unfortunate Events” and try to collapse the first three books into one movie. I also hope they don’t pull and “Eragon” and cut out or alter so much of the story that it no longer resembles the original plot.
Ya I totally agree with Nick here. The story will flop if they try to collapse any of the books into one movie. Either 2, 3 or more books in one movie will cut out way too much and completely destroy the world.
Yeah, like what M. Night Shyamalan did to The Last Airbender by shoving an entire season of the cartoon into one movie.
I know it will not be on par with the imagination I have for these books but I hope the follow the story right . I mean seriously, the books are so descriptive there should be no way to screw this up right? That’s what I thought until I saw ,”Legend of the Seeker,” on TV from my ,”Sword of Truth,” series. They took a series I love, Chopped it all to hell and threw it on as a TV series, never following the story whatsoever. So please please please, Do not murder this series on the big screen and do a good job on it. Then screen it for Fans of the book.
i totally agree with you.
Oh no. Please no. I have dreaded this news for years! As much as I would like to think that they will do a great job, I know that they will utterly destroy the story. There is so much to the story that they will have to cut so much out, which will ruin it completely. “Lord of the Rings” made me mad enough, I know this will be worse. I’m going to go cry now…
Hey, I’m looking forward to the movies too and have loved the books. However, Robert Jordan’s pedantic writing style, especially from Winter’s Heart on, means that the story really could be condensed into three of four films max (at this stage with three books to go that I haven’t read.) There is a lot of detail that really isn’t required in the movies, so don’t get too upset guys
Just so long as they don’t do to these films the appalling treatment they gave to Eragon.
It would be awesome to be a part of this movie. If they do make them like The Lord of the Rings movies, except being 15 instead of 3, they will be looking for some new people to act in it because of the cost. I want in
“…Just so long as they don’t do to these films the appalling treatment they gave to Eragon…”
-Noel
Agreed. Everyone cross your fingers for a wheel of time movie that is much better than Eragon =P
What’s quite awesome is that in a movie it will take less than a second to show things which RJ spent pages on … namely the elaborately described dresses.
It would be epic if they did the story justice, and I would be first in line to play a nameless character who gets hacked to pieces in a battle scene!
I love the wheel of time series but there is no possible way that they can make this into a good series of movies. The problem is that it is too long for them to finish the whole series. I think that it would be better suited as a tv show…maybe somewhere along the lines of hbo making to offset the tudors since they have a crap load of money to do it justice. As for the movies…well I can at least hope the first one they make will be good. At the least it can’t be as bad as the movie version of eragon.
they had better pick the right people for the lead roles. it will be interesting who they’re going to chose for Mat
Pfft, the Wheel Of Time is at best a poor copy of Tolkien’s work and plagiarism at worst.
Wow clearly you have NEVER read Jordan’s work. Its not even close to the same really. I dont know what makes that comment more sad the fact that you show very clearly that you have no idea what you are talking about, or you’re sorry try at sounding as if you actualy knew anything about WoT. Sad lad…really sad.
That is one of the craziest things i have ever heard. The wheel of Time is so much more than anything Tolkien ever did. He was great but he was not RJ.
I have read evry LOtR Book out there and every WoT Book too…. There is nothing remotly similar about the two other than that they are both fantacy works… How you can be stupid enough to think that RJ could have read LOtR and taken its idea, made it compleatly different and then make it 5 times longer in terms of books and 10 times longer in terms of pages (only books 1-12)and call it plagiarism is beyond me… perhaps you ment to say that LOtR inspired RJ… But saying RJ stole from JRR T. is like saying JK R. stole from Star Trek….
I agree that this would be best suited as a TV show. I would love to see this taken on by the same people who did Spartacus. If you have seen it, its a great show and i really love how they keep every episode exciting and not falling to the normal standards of TV series where they string you along. This makes for more of a movie feel where you are constantly satisfied.
I would love to see these as movies. I mean, I’ve never seen/read Eragon, but movies should be appreciated for what they are. Entertainment. Like someone here already said, there is just sooo much detail in Robert Jordan’s writing that it would be impossible to get it all in. I only started reading the Harry Potter series after seeing the movies. In fact, I have read a lot of books because of the movies. I think that we should be excited, as WOT fans, to see the story given to the public in a way we never could. How cool would it be for the legacy of WOT to have it be recognized (as it surely is!) as one of the greatest epics of all time. Maybe we can give that love to more people. We’re the biggest fans of the series, those of us who have been reading it for the last decade or more, and we should be excited to share that love with the rest of the world. I mean, come on, the battle scenes would be freaking amazing! I say they use Scarlett Johansson for Birgitte!
Can’t wait for the movie and I hope it will be made at least as good as LOTR, maybe even better and I also hope that it will not as badly made as the Sword of Truth TV series named Legend of the Seeker
I have been in contact with Rick Selvage, V.P. of Red Eagle, and have learned that casting for the film will begin in the Mid-Summer of this year. It will be an exciting day for fans of the series
I am also interested in the casting of the film. Do you have any further information on who to contact to get involved?
I would love to play lan or one of the forsaken. But that’s about as likely as me winning the lottery…. in three different states. On the same day, and curing cancer.
I agree with many of you who say that they had best not butcher the story. I also was a fan of the Sword of Truth, but the seeker show was so bad, I couldnt watch more than 2 without being disgusted. Some of you say that the books are far too long, which they ARE, but you must also remember that much of it is taken up with descriptions of clothing, buildings and scenery. A lot is also taken up with thoughts, which while amusing, they cant show it properly, so most, if not all, would be removed, or adapted into script.
I think they would have more sucess if they adapted into a TV show. I KNOW that technology today would have no trouble at all creating the environment we read about, and aside from channeling, Loial, and the shadowspawn, there should not be many special effects needed which seems to be the budget killer of so many projects.
I want them to do this so badly, but thtey have to do it RIGHT (LOTR, I thought, was a PERFECT adaption, leaving so little out..)
But they have to pick the right actors, too..it would be interesting to see who they choose. I have been reading these books over and over for about 15 years, and have never been able to pick who should play who. Unknown actors might be best, so we dont try to fit someone we already knwo into the right roll.
If they do end up making the series, I would love to see some of my favorite sceens. My favorite to date is when Rand goes to Rhuidean and enters the columns, and when Nyneave heals Logain. Mat finding out about the daughter of the 9 moons is pretty, good, too. I have also always wanted to see how they would portray the agelessness of an Aes Sedai. No matter how many times I read, I just cant imagine seeing it, unless they do some gnarly lighting tricks…?
*SPOILER FOR MOST RECENT BOOK!***
Egwene kicking the Seanchans butt in the latest book with the wand angreal would be pretty awesome to see, too (even if she is a hag!). but that would be Y E A R S away, if ever!
Anyway, thats my 2 cents. Thanks for reading
Thinking about the agelessness, I think if they botoxed all the actresses they would end up looking pretty ageless?
or when he heals saidin or uses the dark one’s power to get of the collar I cant wait to finish reading the series! , as for the movie as long as they dont change the story of leave anything out like the seeker (what a pile of crap that was) they can show in detail what character sees and their facial expression shoud be able to show what they think for the most part and as long as there is not constant voice of characters of what they are thinking it can be done they need somone who is also a die hard fan and also a very good director like LOTR I look forward to movie knowing that the book is almost complete and they must spar no expense on the graphics….
Books like The Lord of the Rings and the WOT series should be easy to put into movies! They’re so detailed and well written, that they’re already practically movie scripts already.
A bit ironic that I found this article today, as I started the series over today. What a story!
I so hope they don’t screw up these movies… About the Aes Sedai looks. Shouldn’t be too hard to make their faces smooth like the Maybeline commercials haha. Just some makeup and effects. The most important thing they really HAVE to get right, is the magic system. They gotta find a good way to make people see how much power strong people have. And not like a big glow or something shitty like that.
Could imagine them holding on to each piece of plot in the Eye of the World? They’d have to make it into 3 separate movies, at least! While I’m not saying that this is by far an impossible endeavor, i find myself skeptical at the plausibility that these movies will stay too true to the story they’re supposed to represent.
For more information, if it is a bit one-sided, about the videogame side of things, go here: http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=59391&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
The WoT books is way more violent, gorier and darker then LOTR, Robert Jordan describes the violence and torture in detail.
Allot would be lost in a PG-13 rated movie
WoT would be a great movie so long as they dont totally screw it up like they did with harry potter
i am up to book 10 and its so awesome
seriously more ppl should read it like my school library doesnt even have it
how sad is that
The pure epicness of WoT could never be captured on film, but if they get it even halfway right it will be more epic than all the Star Wars and LOTR movies combined. Started reading the series 10 years ago, and I go through 1 book(minimum) per month, and I never seem to get tired of it.
I really don’t see them ever being able to put the wheel of time books to film.The plots are way too intricate,to many side characters and storys,and unless they did some 2-3 movies per book,I think we WoT fans are going to be sorely dissapointed. Yes,they did relatively well with LoTR,but the lengths and plots of Tolkiens classics come nowhere near to the complexitys of Jordan.I will check it out if it ends up happening,but I got to say,I’m not holdin’ out much hope.Like Yvonne fortin mentioned about what Sam Raimi did with the sword of truth,I expect this to turn out F.U.B.A.R.
The LOtR Trillogy was 1000 pages over 3 books (6 books realy but w/e)and it to them 3 movies to make and if you put their extended edition times together you get close to 12 hours of footage…and they still left stuff out… the WoT books are all 700+ pages (exluding new spring)… they might be able to pull it off if they made 2 movies per book, but then we are looking at 30 movies… I think an HBO series whould do a better job of it and we would all be able to see it sooner…
F.U.B.A.R. or not, it is still going to be exciting to see these books put into a movie. There is no way it could be done exactly like in the books, but what the movies will do is interest people to start reading the series. Hopefully it will be one of those movies where you say to your friend that isn’t familiar with WOT, “If you think that was good, check out the book you will really be blown away!” Movies are a different media all together and have their place, but can never compare to books where the reader can imagine and create what appeals to them. BUT!!! Movies are still awesome, hopefully the special effects will be spectacular and for anybody obsessed with the series, the more comics, cartoons, or movies the better! I personally can never get enough! I hope this movie happens!
Alright, I will not lie that I’m a little apprehensive about the knowledge that my favorite book series is to be turned into a movie. Personally I think Wheel of Time is so big that a mini-series idea makes more sense to me. Or perhaps a full series. Lord knows it’s long enough.
HOWEVER, I will agree that if it’s done right, if it has a person like the Lord of the Rings guy running the show, then I think the movies could be amazing.
So there’s two ways this could go. It could either A, end up like Eragon where is was a complete and total failure, or B, end up like Lord of the Rings and be almost as amazing as the books themselves. I hope dearly for the latter.
IT says for a 7 figured deal. Now that is a right amount I reckon.
The 1st book has enough to make it one book itself
The 2nd and 3rd too really.
Its when you get to the 6-10 books that can be made to minimum 2 movies really. Cos no offense….NOTHING HAPPENS. Espicially book 10, just delete it from movie material!
Thats 5…hmmm the last 5 movies can be made into 2 movies too.
Its just that from the 6th book onwards nothing really happens till Brandon picked it up again. Honestly.
I am excited to say the least. Never watch a movie and try to compare it to a book. Book leaves more to your imagination then a movie.
I see mention of the Legend of the Seeker. They even said you can’t compare. The series is loosely based on the plot line of the books. Terry even said it along with the producers.
So I forget about the books when I watch a film adaptation of it. because I will always be let down.. I can say HP and LOTR were not bad. So if they stay on that type of book to movie correlation then it will be excellent.
This is it guys. CROSS FINGERS EVERYONE!!!
i think the idea of having a live action adaptation is a good thing but i know its going to be ruined quite a bit………….i think it would be better to have an anime series since they would be able to actually fit everything in and it would be cool to see an anime based on my favorite book series ever
Two words Kris: Anime Sucks. Keep that japanese shit out of an american wrote series. Robert Jordan would be rolling in his grave if he read that comment.
Get the characters right. If they can find competent actors, avoid fantasy movie production clichés, and avoid bad special effects we could have a good movie. And I agree with others: no animé because mainstream American audiences won’t take it seriously. Books 6 through 10 could EASILY make a single 2-2-1/2 hour movie and not feel rushed or truncated. Brandon Sanderson was the savior of the series when he kicked the plot back into gear. A movie would be great. But a television series would be wonderful if they stick to high characterization standards, like the newer Battlestar Galactica. (I said “characterization” not the tone or style. It was great for what it was but WOT is a completely different story). With so many books, you could have a solid couple of years of stories that don’t have to get tired.
.First off Brendon is writing from RJ notes of what was to happen in the books, secondly the latest book was literally half written by RJ so no and yes lots did happen just not what the average north american can appreaciate or comprehend what they did do was add more depth and greater detail into the world that RJ breathed to life so you guys should go back to reading the Reader Rabbit series since depth and intricate storytelling is so beyond your scope of comprehension
I would take what you have to say seriously, “you guys should go back to reading the Reader Rabbit series”, but I can’t. If you have a problem with the way people read then you should make sure you understand how punctuation works in writing. As for the story telling, RJ is far superior to Brendon on so many levels. RJ didn’t spend nearly as much time rehashing what the other books were about. As well, the feel of the characterizations in Brendon’s book aren’t what RJ led readers to expect. I’ll enjoy the rest of the series, but very much mourn the passing of Jordan.
Wow, I had been hearing this for a while but was never sure if I should take it seriously. It seems now that it really will happen. These are my favorite books ever and I only hope they do it justice. I am apprehensive but also excited as well. If they are half as good as the books they will be awesome.
I just know they’re going to chop the story down into 3 “easily digestable” parts to appeal to an unimaginative movie audience who can’t be bothered to read 14+ books. Multiple characters, plot lines and sections of the books will be either condensed into one or completely left out (a’la L.O.T.R.) losing the atmosphere and depth of the books, and what they leave in will be twisted beyond all recognition. Think about it, we love huge fantasy epics for their sprawling background mythologies, complex characters and immersive worlds that encapsulate the imagination and cannot be faithfully reproduced on the big screen. And any T.V. series would end up being some cheap and cheesy Xena Warrior Princess type trash. Besides, even if Universal Pictures are willing does anyone think they’ll be able to find a large enough cast of even half decent acting talent to sign up for a series of films long enough to do Robert Jordans masterpiece justice? If you want to make a big budget special effects fantasy movie then fine, write something origional, but please please stop spewing out half hearted mangled efforts at fantasy and sci-fi literary classics in a transparent and cynical effort to make money at the box office. What’s next, Raymond Feist’s Riftwar series? Or maybe Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen? God I hope not.
If they make a game where i can play as Mat I’ll buy the platform, whether it’s a ps3 or a 1000 euro pc wont matter.
Hi folks,
let us pray it will not be such a bullsh…oot like what they did to Robert Goodkinds Sword of truth. I was realy upset on this hercules and xena style stuff.
I hope they are treating Jordans Wheel of Time a little kinder. Money is not all that matters.
well…. WOT is by far my fav series…. im super pumped for the movie…. i just dont know how they will keep the actors for that long…. i guarantee they will cast rand as a 5 foot 3 inch dark haired person and perrin will be the guy who played harry potter hahaha.and for all you guys who dislike legend of the seeker cuz the masacred the books…. its actually a great tv show if you never read the book. please let egwene be jessica alba…. elayne will be megann foxx…. and they have alice eve as lanfear!
megann foxx cannot act worth a shit, and it will make everyone who sees any trailer go ‘oooh a megann foxx movie!’ shes not even that hot anyways
I read tolkin when I was nine and started reading these when I was 18 and it first came out. I am 38 now and hoping they do as well with this as they did with lotr. I have to agree with many of you, I WANT IN. Its as simple as that. Let me play a corpse in the gutter, I don’t care.
Rachel Weisz as Moiraine please!
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Vote-Rachel-Weisz-as-Moiraine-Damodred/107984145910266
I am so excited. If done right, this could be better than any fantisy movie we’ve seen yet. I cant wait.
My god i can not belive i am so exited about this upcoming film. I am keeping my fingers crossed so it will have the same director and scenarist as LOTR din because let´s face it: it was a hudge succes. I for one love the boks and think RJ is one of the best writers ever:D As i am siting here (i´m on call in the hospital)i can only think of geting home in the morning and finishing the 12th book. Sorry for my poor english skills(i am from romania)