Summit Entertainment Acquires Rights for Ender's Games Movie

Deadline reports that Summit Entertainment, the folks who bought us the Twilight films, have acquired the US rights for Ender's Games. Gavin Hood (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) is set to direct his script.

According to Deadline:

The film will be shopped at the upcoming 2011 Cannes Film Festival, with Nick Meyer's Sierra/Affinity brokering offshore deals. The plan is to put the film into production by early next year.

I'm glad to see that the movie is moving forward, but I'm a little hesitant to be enthusiastic at this point with the personnel involved. I want to see Ender's Game done well. So, I hope that this is the right team to make the movie that deserves to be made, not a movie company desperately searching for some Harry Potter/Twilight property to make money off of.

I wasn't impressed with what Gavin Hood did with the Wolverine movie, so I have reservations about how he will be able to transfer something like Ender's Game to the big screen, especially since the darkness of Wolverine' character was whitewashed in the Origins movie and it had a sort of "this is a stupid comic book movie" attitude that implied that it wasn't being taken seriously.

Deadline refers to Ender's Game as "youth-driven series", so hopefully the potential of Summit wanting to turn Ender's Game into a teen Twilight series aging up the characters to teens played by 20-somethings won't happy. But you wonder if Summit is the type of company willing to make a movie with young kids involved in extreme violence.

Is the Ender's Game Move Dead?

I keep getting asked this question, so I figured I should put up a post about it.

Is the Ender's Game Movie dead? Well, not completely. It currently is not in pre-production at any studio. There isn't a director attached. So, don't go lining up for tickets any time soon. It's going to be years before its in theaters.

However, Orson Scott Card is still working on the script and hasn't given up wanting Ender on the big screen.

On his blog at Hatrack, OSC said in February of 2009:

I'm finishing up the screenplay for the Ender's Game movie.

The Ender's Game comics continue to be published by Marvel, and the success of these could be key to the movie eventually being made. The problem is that a movie with the number of special effects that Ender's Game would need would make it expensive. And movie studios won't give out that amount of money without knowing that the finished product is going to be profitable. Seeing the movie visually is important, especially since so much of the book is dependent on what Ender is thinking and feeling.

In 2008, OSC said in an interview to Marvel.com, "I'm hoping Marvel will show [Hollywood] how it's done, because you guys know how to put the story down in a visual way so that it comes to life."

The Ender's Game comic is being written by Marvel Animation producer & writer Christopher Yost.

Many fans have been wanting an animated Ender's Game film, rather than live action. Perhaps this be something Marvel Animation might be interested in?

As a sidenote, Disney acquired Marvel last year, but no word yet on how this could impact Ender's Game. OSC has been closely associated with Marvel Comics, and other than the Ender's Game and Alvin Makercomics, he has written Ultimate Iron Man.

So, in short, the movie isn't quite dead. It's just a matter of getting a studio interested in making it again. The comics will wrap up this spring, and hopefully that will attract some interest.

Marvel's Ender's Game Comic Books

The Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow comics have started at Marvel comics, and overall both has been met with praise from both critics and fans alike. I’ve been rather impressed by the quality and how well both novels translate to comic book format.

I believe the Ender’s comics are only available in specialty comic book stores. All five issues of each of the limited series will eventually be collected into a hardcover edition that will be available at bookstore as well, but that will likely be in nearly a year.

Like with most comics, there have been delays. The third issue of Ender’s Game: Battle School will be out in late January, and a release date hasn’t been set for the fourth issue. It might be best to wait for all the issues to be collected, than to read both of the series serial style.


Ender’s Game: Battle School

Script: Christopher Yost
Pencils: Pasqual Ferry

Issue #1: October 8, 2008
Issue #2: November 19, 2008
Issue #3: January 28, 2009
Issue #4: March 2009
Issue #5: April 2009



Ender’s Shadow: Battle School

Script: Mike Carey
Pencils: Sebastian Fiumara

Issue #1: Dec 3, 2008
Issue #2: January 7, 2009
Issue #3: February 25, 2009
Issue #4: March 2009
Issue #5: April 2009

Ender's Game Comic from Marvel

There hasn't been any news on the movie recently. However, it has been announced that there will be a comic book based on Ender's Game, published by Marvel comics, that will be released this fall.

It seems like these comics will be a sign of what's to come in the movie. Orson Scott Card said at the San Diego Comic-Con that the look of the Battle Suits and character design will be the same in the movie and video game.

You can view the designs for Ender Wiggin and the Battle Suits here.

Orson Scott Card will not be writing the series. Instead, veteran comic and animation writer Christopher Yost will be writing it. Card has had high praise for Yost saying, "What he came back with was so powerful that it made me feel like I was reading the story for the first time. It came totally alive."

Yost has previously written X-Men: Emperor Vulcan, a story that featured alien invaders that drew comparisons to the Buggers.

Also, Yost has written several direct-to-video animated features for Marvel Studios. Many EG fans have wondered if animation would be the best way to make an Ender's Game movie. Perhaps, Marvel Studios might consider a big screen animated feature of Ender's Game? Just some food for thought....

Ender's Game Movie Searching for New Director

io9 reports that Wolfgang Peterson is no longer directing the Ender's Game movie and producers are currently meeting with candidates to find a replacement.

Peterson's involvement in Ender's Game has been in doubt since last month when it was announced he would be directing the scifi movie Uprising.

EG Producer Lynn Hendee also gave a number of updates on the current status of the film:

• Orson Scott Card is currently working on revisions to his latest draft of the script.
• Casting will not begin until a director is chosen, so it's too early to speculate on who might be cast to play Ender Wiggin.

In other news, Marvel Comics announced today that there will be an Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow comic book series, written by Chris Yost (New X-Men, X-Force), with art by Pasqual Ferry (Ultimate Iron Man) and overseen by OSC.

This could be a warm-up for the Ender's Game movie, since Card explains that, "I'm hoping Marvel will show [Hollywood] how it's done, because you guys know how to put the story down in a visual way so that it comes to life."