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Amazon CEO demands a 'Game of Thrones' style hit

I agree with the sentiment that chasing another high-fantasy franchise is a fool's errand. The last 'Game of Thrones' wasn't another fantasy political drama, it was Breaking Bad. Before that it was LOST. Before that, The Sopranos. You need to invest in the next big thing while it's still seen as a risky niche product.

In that regard, Amazon's been doing okay. The Man In The High Castle, The Tick, The Last Tycoon, and Z aren't great shows - but they don't feel derivative of existing series. They're ambitious genre works that didn't always work out (the latter two shows were recently cancelled) - but they weren't just chasing the leftover audience of another, bigger show.
 

Einchy

semen stains the mountaintops
Agreed; but it's a genre that has had success on and off for decades in the US. So you combine the fact Berzerke obscure to most people.. with what? I'm honestly asking, what is it about Berserker story that it's gotten more than a few "the only option" comments here. I've literally never heard of it.

Because it's tonally similar to Game of Thrones.

Politics play a big part in a certain arc of the series, it's grimdark like GoT and it has plenty of shocking twists with grand battles. If they could actually do the manga justice (which I doubt because it would be too costly) then it would be a huge hit. You'd even have a Red Wedding moment that would have everyone going nuts.
 

riotous

Banned
Because it's tonally similar to Game of Thrones.

Politics play a big part in a certain arc of the series, it's grimdark like GoT and it has plenty of shocking twists with grand battles. If they could actually do the manga justice (which I doubt because it would be too costly) then it would be a huge hit. You'd even have a Red Wedding moment that would have everyone going nuts.

Ah cool, thanks for the explanation.
 
dudes, if they go over the top with that The Boys adaptation, i could see it picking up traction. Not GOT numbers by any means, but it's definitely got enough sheer violence and depravity to get people talking

plus I bet a hardcore superhero deconstruction might strike a nerve after all of these comic book movies
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
Agreed; but it's a genre that has had success on and off for decades in the US. So you combine the fact Berzerke obscure to most people.. with what? I'm honestly asking, what is it about Berserker story that it's gotten more than a few "the only option" comments here. I've literally never heard of it.

You may have seen it more so in the inspiration its given to a lot of others. The Dark Souls series and Bloodbourne have quite a bit of "inspiration" taken from Berserk on a lot of things from environments, enemy designs and weapons.

10-IGf16Mu.jpg
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
FX has the rights to Y: The Last Man (Michael Green, co-showrunner of American Gods has been tapped to showrun it, in fact. Hasn't been ordered to series yet though). They also bought the rights to Southern Bastards a few years ago - nothing is happening with it afaik, but I think they still own the rights to it.

As for Fables, Amazon has something fairly similar already in the works called 'Carnival Row':

Carnival Row is a fantasy-noir set in a neo-Victorian city. Mythical creatures fleeing their war-torn homeland have gathered in the city, and tensions are simmering between citizens and the growing immigrant population. The series follows the investigation of a string of unsolved murders that are eating away at whatever uneasy peace still exists.

Stars Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne.
 
From what I've read I get the impression it's higher budget than usual BBC stuff. The author has described it as a "very big project"

It won't be bigger than Doctor Who, which is a co-production between BBC Wales and a number of other companies. It will also be what is often known as a "mini-series." The whole story will be told in about 6 or 8 hours of screen time. This isn't being equipped with the kind of legs HBO gave to Game of Thrones.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
They should beg Disney for a Star Wars series.

Disney is working on their own streaming service, and is going to be developing their own original series and movies for it, so if there ever was to be a live action Star Wars series, it'd probably end up there.
 

boingball

Member
It is nice to want things. But you cannot manage a success. HBO, who are quite successful overall, had their share of failures. And they passed on Breaking Bad. So good luck finding your dragons which print money.
 

sibarraz

Banned
I always wondered, how does HBO make money with game of thrones?

Is their streaming service a money maker? or is the business of being a Premium Channel on cable that good to justify a big production like GOT?
 

bloodydrake

Cool Smoke Luke
The best candidate is the Dark Tower tho it sounds like its already wrapped up atm.

I think the Warded Man by Peter V. Brett ( The Demon Cycle) has real potential to tap into the gritty medieval , political drama nature of GOT. The more fantasy aspects of the demons appearing at night could be minimized like the White Walkers in GOT for the first Season.
 

Lylo

Member
Lol, thats not how it works, you don't demand a success, you throw money and talented people at a production and hope for the best, that's all you can do...
 
I always wondered, how does HBO make money with game of thrones?

Is their streaming service a money maker? or is the business of being a Premium Channel on cable that good to justify a big production like GOT?

Their ongoing business is being a very solid pay TV entertainment source. The worldwide success of this one show has left them scrambling to collect revenue in places and media they hadn't previously considered viable. Oh, how awful it must be to be successful!
 
My pitch would be to base it on historical events and add your own flair, like BBC's The Last Kingdom. The setting would be 1400's Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Wallachia. There are so many ripe for TV characters. Sultan Mehmet II, Vlad Tepes, Radu the Handsome, etc. Focus on House Brasard/House Draculesti and how Vlad came to power, How Sultan came to power, etc.

If they're feeling adventurous, through in the Vampire elements. But base it in reality with real characters.

Please Amazon. Do this.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Amazon is also making a Cleopatra series from the creators of Black Sails:

Cleopatra is described as a revisionist take on one of history’s most misunderstood women, 'The Godfather' in Ancient Egypt. After nearly losing her life in a bloody coup, Cleopatra must use her natural wit and political genius to take back her throne and restore honor to her family and kingdom.

Which, if picked up, holy shit.
 
Because it's tonally similar to Game of Thrones.

Politics play a big part in a certain arc of the series, it's grimdark like GoT and it has plenty of shocking twists with grand battles. If they could actually do the manga justice (which I doubt because it would be too costly) then it would be a huge hit. You'd even have a Red Wedding moment that would have everyone going nuts.
As someone who loves Berserk, I have to interject and point out that trying to make a megabit by copying the tone of the last megabit is an awful idea that has never really worked
 
Amazon is also making a Cleopatra series from the creators of Black Sails:



Which, if picked up, holy shit.

Now in a sea of bad ideas that sound better than most of the suggestions in this thread. Hope that works out for them, hope that works out for me... I miss Black Sails.

That was a show that at times was better than GoT but lacked the buzz that elevated it to water cooler phenomenon.
 
They did get it right, then got it wrong multiple times afterwards.
I mean even the original anime is an incredibly flawed adaption even if it's still good. The problem with Berserk anime is that it's artwork and designs are too detailed to mesh well with the format of animation, which tends to work better with simple and clean designs (the reason something like mob psycho animates so well is not just talented animators, but also simple designs that lend themselves well to animation.) it's not impossible to animate Berserk's designs well of course, just requires a lot of time and money and isn't really feasible outside large bursts. In this respect, live action might be slightly better suited to berserk than animation to be honest
 
This is like when Lost was a hit and every network was trying to do their own Lost and now we have all these long-running critically acclaimed Lost-like shows that are just as good as Lost and had long healthy runs and everybody loves them and we all still talk about them all the time
 
This is like when Lost was a hit and every network was trying to do their own Lost and now we have all these long-running critically acclaimed Lost-like shows that are just as good as Lost and had long healthy runs and everybody loves them and we all still talk about them all the time

Yep, in my experience the worst thing to do when trying to create a megahit is to just copy the last/current one. Megahits are never reliable, but one factor that tends to be common is that they do something that is seen as new or different by general audiences. Something that's too similar to what's already popular can be successful if done well, but it's pretty much guaranteed to not be a mega hit
 

UraMallas

Member
That is owned by Christopher Tolkien and he hates the LOTR adaptations so I don't think he'll be selling the rights to the Silmarillion any time soon.

Well, he's 92 and Simon seems to be much more open to the idea of adaptations so we'll see soon enough how that all goes down.
 
The Dark Tower would have been great for a series. Too much content to stuff in a few movies.

The plan for Dark Tower was a series after the one movie. Technically, that still is the plan, but in reality the movie probably tanked the plans for the TV series.
 
Push Patriot which is miles smarter than anything HBO has made, and make more shows that have artistic merit like it. It's time we get out of the ghetto of HBO-esque "prestige" dramas that lack subtlety.
 

Mulgrok

Member
A Berserk TV adaption would not need to show large scale battles. Just focus on individual members of the Band of the Hawk during such events. Make it personal and intimate in contrast to the sweeping scale of GoT. Berserk is best when the politics are in the background.

I really just want to see the public reacting to the eclipse. Would be worth making just for that.

fake edit: Call it the Dark Souls of fantasy TV.
/s
 
I think a long form adaptation of the Red Rising series would of been a good chance for something like this, but alas its being made into movies instead.
 
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