The Smurfs movie is coming out in theaters this week joining a long line of TV series that were turned into movies (Transformers, The A-Team, Sex and the City) and vice versa (Nikita, Friday Night Lights, Are We There Yet?). So we’ve made a wish list of additional TV series we want to be turned into movies and movies we want to be made into TV series. Studio’s and networks, for your attention (and commission…):

Game of Thrones (2011-?)

As great as the TV series is the books are even better and they portray all the characters we’ve learned to love in much greater detail. The books are so long they give us the opportunity to turn Game of Thrones into a bona-fide movie franchise. Each movie could focus on a different angle of the story. Personally I would love to know more about the complicated family upbringing of Tyrion Lannister, or see how Daenerys and Khal Drogo learned to love each other.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1987)

I’ll be honest, I only chose this one so I could have an excuse to stare at Jessica Rabbit on a weekly basis. But if this doesn’t seem a good enough reason for you, try to remember how much fun this movie was: exciting, humorous, witty and sexy. The world of Toon Town offers a lot of other possible stories (who tried to poison snow white? Who changed the “duck/rabbit season” poster into “human season”? etc.), and the characters promise to be as lovable as ever.

Lost (2004-2010)

Lost is probably the most mind-bending series ever made, and it captivated millions who kept guessing and speculating through its entire six year run. Lost isn’t considered the best TV series ever made mainly because of the way it ended. Many fans felt that the show’s conclusion was very unsatisfying and were left with a sour taste. A Lost movie is a perfect opportunity to make amends. The huge fan base of the series, thirsty for more, will definitely turn the movie into a blockbuster and if the show’s creators are able to create an alternative ending that would satisfy the fans, then Lost will go down in history as a true masterpiece.

Harry Potter Franchise (2001-2011)

After the phenomenal success of the movies, somebody will definitely want to continue milking the cow. The millions of fans who are now suffering from Harry Potter withdrawal (myself included) will be absolutely thrilled once they hear there is a TV series coming up. It could be very family friendly like the first movies, or it could be for a more mature audience like the last three movies (if so, I’m thinking HBO). Once the series airs the two most popular series on TV will be based on fantasy books: Harry Potter and Game of Thrones.

Arrested Development (2003-2006)

Among fans there’s no argument that this amazing series was too short lived. More often than not, American TV series last way after they jumped the shark, but this is definitely not the case for this masterpiece. I need to see one last adventure of this wacky and eccentric family before I’m prepared to let it rest in peace.

High Fidelity (2000)

The plot of the movie is not bad - a romantic dramatic comedy about a vinyl shop owner who grows from adolescence into adulthood, but I’m not interested in that deep stuff. I want to see the everyday life inside the store with Jack Black and Todd Louiso as the main characters. The two of them fighting, insulting customers, etcetera. And the show would be full of cameos from great indie bands of course. That could be a lot of fun, and maybe help a dying industry along the way.

Blackadder (1983)

There is no shortage of medieval action and adventure films, but when it comes to taking a more humorous look at tales of politics and betrayal Rowan Atkinson and Co.’s presence is sorely missed. Having an entire film devoted to the ambitious yet sleazy attempts of Edmund to become king would definitely be fun to watch.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

The film had some funny and exciting fight scenes and some offbeat awkward romantic scenes, but the end result felt a little too condensed. Making it a TV series would give a better look at Scott’s failing music band and much more screen time for the evil ex boyfriends.

The Shadow Line (2011)

It’s regarded as a masterpiece by some (myself included), but not many saw it outside the UK. Its seven episodes aired from May 5th to June 16th this year, and I just couldn’t hold my breath from one episode’s ending to the next episode’s beginning. It stars three excellent actors who all gave fantastic performances: Chiwetel Ejiofor as a detective suffering from a memory loss, Christopher Eccleston as the nicest drug lord you ever saw and Stephen Rea as an ultra professional hitman. It’s an amazingly stylized and complex Neo Noir Crime Thriller that drew comparisons to The Wire and The Killing. I suggest cutting from its total length of 7 hours the “previously on…” and opening theme of each episode and just show the whole series at the movie theaters. Those 6 hours would create the greatest crime trilogy since The Godfather!

The Spirit of Jeet Kune Do (2004) (also known as Once Upon a Time in High School)

If you ignore the longer than long title of this Korean movie, you are looking at potentially the best TV series ever! It combines the best parts from coming of age and high school life titles (Friday Night Lights for example) and the best parts from stylized and rough martial arts titles (Fists of Fury for instance). It will be a TV series that would go from suspenseful and exciting one moment to touching at the other. Until TV execs get there act together and jump at this opportunity, watch the movie, you won’t be disappointed!

Technorati Tags:  The Smurfs, Game of Thrones, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Lost, mind-bending, Blockbuster, Harry Potter, Franchise, series, Arrested Development, eccentric family, High Fidelity, Blackadder, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, The Shadow Line, masterpiece, The Godfather, The Spirit of Jeet Kune Do

Popularity: 2% [?]

Nelson Mandela celebrated his birthday on July 18th, so I wanted to write something in honor of the great man. Because I felt that so many people have already written stuff about him being an inspiring leader and such, I tried to take a different angle and write something else about him that will be just as interesting and inspiring: He looks just like Morgan Freeman! Coincidently Josh Hartnett (21.7) and Terence Stamp (22.7) are also celebrating their birthdays this week, and they also look a lot like other people: Hartnett looks exactly like Ashton Kutcher and Stamp looks just like Malcolm McDowell. Here is a top 10 list of actors who we all suspect were separated at birth:

10. Tobey Maguire/Elijah Wood/ Jake Gyllenhaal

Is there proof they aren’t the same person? There is proof that Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire aren’t the same person since they were both together in the movie Brothers. You can argue that it’s a stunt in the manner they pulled in The Social Network with the guy who played both of the Winklevoss brothers, but they both also attended events together. There is proof that Elijah Wood and Tobey Maguire aren’t the same person since they were both in The Ice Storm. No proof exists to show us that Jake Gyllenhaal and Elijah Wood aren’t the same person…

What is similar between them? All three are in their early 30s and have a slight tendency towards geekiness. They all have blue eyes, brown hair and a white, pale skin.

What makes them different? Jake Gyllenhaal is a bit taller than the other two; he also looks a bit tougher than Maguire and Wood that are almost synonyms to the term nerd.

9. Bradley Cooper/Josh Lucas/ Matthew Mcconaughey/ Patrick Wilson

Is there proof they aren’t the same person? McConaughey and Cooper were both in the movie Failure To Launch, McConaughey and Lucas were together in The Lincoln Lawyer, Cooper and Wilson were together in The A-Team. That leaves us with the possibilities that Matthew McConaughey and Patrick Wilson/Bradley Cooper and Josh Lucas/Josh Lucas and Patrick Wilson are in fact the same person.

What is similar between them? All are in their late 30’s/early 40’s, all probably go to a tanning salon and visit the gym regularly. All four have blue eyes and brown hair. The most amazing fact is that the four of them are almost exactly the same height: all range between 1.83 and 1.85 meters (just over 6 feet)!

What makes them different? The main thing that differentiates between them is their level of seriousness: Bradley Cooper is the least serious among the four, and then comes McConaughey, Patrick Wilson and finally the most serious one – Josh Lucas.

8. Amy Adams/ Isla Fisher/Jenna Fischer

Is there proof they aren’t the same person? The three of them never appeared in the same movie together, but after comprehensive research I found out that Amy Adams was in three episodes of The Office alongside Jenna Fischer so that rules out the possibility that they are the same person.

What is similar between them? Pale skin, hair color that’s somewhere between red and brown, all range in height from 1.60 to 1.65 (5″3- 5″5). All three are good comic actresses but can also play in dramatic roles as well, and all are in about the same age (35-37). Notice that two of them share almost the same last name…

What makes them different? You can tell the difference between them by the redness of their hair: Amy Adams has the reddest hair, then Isla Fischer and finally Jenna Fischer with her slightly reddish hair which is more brown than it is red.

7. Shia LeBeouf/Michael Angarano

Is there proof they aren’t the same person? No such proof exists.

What is similar between them? They are both almost the same age, have black hair and brown eyes. They both usually play in humorous and exciting movies that are intended for a family outing. In 2009 they were both in movies that the critics loved to hate – LeBeouf in Transformers 2 and Angarano in Gentlemen Broncos.

What makes them different? The main difference between them is probably the balance in their bank account – LeBeouf made a ton of money from The Transformers movies and from Indiana Jones 4, Angarano is also very rich of course, but far from being filthy rich like LeBeouf. Angarano also looks like a much nicer person, but that will probably change once he’s cast as LeBeouf’s replacement in The Transformers franchise.

6. John Lithgow/Terence Stamp/Malcolm McDowell

Is there proof they aren’t the same person? No, and this time I’m dead serious – I am almost certain that Terence Stamp and Malcolm McDowell are the same person. Lithgow might be his/their brother.

What is similar between them? All had grey hair since they were about 18; they have blue eyes with a crazed look and they have a smile that says: I can either be a nice grandfather figure for you, or I can kill you, it’s up to you.

What makes them different? Stamp and McDowell are British, Lithgow is American, and they also have different levels of toughness: Stamp is the toughest, McDowell is second and Lithgow third.

5. Geoffrey Rush/Stephen Rea

Is there proof they aren’t the same person? Not really.

What is similar between them? Apart from bad eye sight and a fondness for hats, they are both in their sixties; they are about the same height 1.81 meters (just under 6 feet), and most important of all, they both share almost the same label of quality.

What makes them different? Stephen Rea is Irish, Geoffrey Rush is Australian, Rush won an Oscar for his role in Shine (and deserved it for his role in The King’s Speech), Rea was just nominated for his role in The Crying Game (you can tell right away on an actor’s face whether he ever won an Oscar or not so it’s a good way to tell the difference between them).

4. Christopher Plummer/Michael Gambon/Ian McKellen

Is there proof they aren’t the same person? Plummer and Gambon were together in The Insider so they can’t be the same person, and if I try and use my logic I guess that that proves they all can’t really be the same person (I didn’t do very well in my Math classes and I wasn’t exactly an honor student in Philosophy, so it is possible that I’m wrong and they could actually be the same person).

What is similar between them? They are all over the age of seventy, all never won an Oscar despite being remarkable and praiseworthy actors, and as you can see all three had experience with roles that require very impressive beards.

What makes them different? McKellen and Gambon are British, Plummer is Canadian, Gambon and McKellen are about 10 years younger than Plummer, and the two Brits were both in highly successful fantasy franchises (McKellen in Lord of the Rings and Gambon in Harry Potter) while Plummer wasn’t. The difference between Gambon and McKellen is probably their attitude towards sex with men :).

3. Michael Madsen/Tom Sizemore

Is there proof they aren’t the same person? Yes, plenty. They worked together in the Western Wyatt Earp, and also in the quite unknown movies The Florentine and Welcome to America and in the upcoming movie Black Gold.

What is similar between them? First and foremost – toughness! They are two of the toughest American actors in existence. Both are also over 1.80 meters (5″10), around the age of 50, have black hair and blue eyes, and they both also carry a few extra pounds (but I would never dare say that to their faces).

What makes them different? Although Michael Madsen is remembered most of all as the psychopathic killer Mr. blonde from the movie Reservoir Dogs, it is actually Tom Sizemore who has had many more entanglements with the law. Madsen is not only the more well behaved one, he is also the harder working one: Madsen has 195 movie credits (!), while Sizemore has “only” 119.

2. Frances McDormand/Felicity Huffman

Is there proof they aren’t the same person? No, it was easy for Huffman to hide her true identity in the movie Transamerica because in real life she always has to hide her true identity (which is Frances McDormand).

What is similar between them? Both are 1.65 meters (5″4), blonde, have blue eyes and their first name starts with the letter F. Also, both are married to famous Hollywood nerds (McDormand to Joel Coen and Huffman to William H. Macy).

What makes them different? Felicity Huffman is five years younger, but the different birth year on her driver’s license doesn’t really convince me. It’s not really a problem to fake the birth year on official ID (just ask African soccer players).

1. Javier Bardem/Jeffrey Dean Morgan (sorry, I got confused; it’s Jeffrey Dean Morgan on the left and Javier Bardem on the right. I think)

Is there proof they aren’t the same person? Of course not, look at them, they are the same person.

What is similar between them? Everything is similar between them more or less, apart from the name. They share the same face, and almost the same age and height.

What makes them different? The nationality – Morgan is American, Bardem is Spanish, and the success – While Bardem won an Oscar and more than 70 other awards, Morgan didn’t really win anything except the reward of being in this post.

Popularity: 4% [?]

It’s the biggest blockbuster event of the summer – the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. What is it about Harry Potter anyway?

(from PostSecret)

I think it’s the integration of magic and everyday teenage life. The magic gives us spells, evil wizards, curses… and lots of special effects. Teenage life gives us relatable coming-of-age issues like identity, family, and managing love and school.

In our Movie Genome, this is represented by a combined search for “fantasy” and “teenage life” or “coming of age.” The results underscore the popularity of combining fantasy and teenage worlds.

Warning: Spoilers ahead…

10. Twilight (2008)

If you somehow failed to hear about the Twilight books and big-screen hype, you could watch almost half the movie without realizing it’s a fantasy. The look is realistic, and the feel is of a regular falling-in-love story between Edward and Bella, two socially awkward teens with goth tendencies. Of course, Edward is actually a vampire, though a “vegetarian” one - which makes things difficult for the young lovers and justifies them staring meaningfully into each other’s eyes for most of the film.

Like it or not, this is the greatest example of the last year for how popular teenage life and fantasy can be together.

9. Tin Man (2007)

This fascinating 6-hour miniseries takes the story of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to a whole new level. With much more focus on fantasy and sci-fi elements, along with deep character psychology, the story deals with DG, a teenage girl who feels out of place in her life.

Sounds typical? Well, imagine what happens when DG and her typical teenage problems are thrown into a world of wizards, strange torture methods, and robots who were apparently DG’s parents the whole time…

This was the highest rated miniseries of 2007, and was nominated for 9 Emmy awards.

8. The Incredibles (2004)

True, The Incredibles is really more focused on family life than teen life. But there is one character who uses her special powers in the regular teen world in such an endearing way, that I couldn’t resist including her.

I’m talking, of course, about Violet, the teenage daughter of the Parr/Incredible family. As a teenager, she is a shy social outsider. She uses her superhuman skills – especially the invisibility one – to hide from a boy she has a crush on. How incredibly teenage-like!

Through the movie, Violet gains control of her powers – and thus self-confidence. When she returns to school she doesn’t hide anymore, for her adventures in the film have also been a coming-of-age journey.

7. Smallville (2001 ongoing)

This successful TV series (9 seasons so far and still going) is the classic example of regular teenage life combined with fantasy – the beloved character Superman.

Set when Clark Kent (aka Superman) and his arch-nemesis Lex Luthor were still just teenagers, the series ranges from Clark battling villains that aim to destroy Smallville to his school experience, friends and one of the biggest issues of the series: coming to terms with his alien origins.

The pilot episode of the series was extremely successful and broke the rating records for The WB network with over 8.4 million viewers.

6. The Golden Compass (2007)

Lyra is a 12-year-old orphan, a smart, somewhat rowdy tomboy. Most of her time is spent playing with her friends or telling creepy stories - but Lyra actually lives in a fantastic world, parallel to ours, in which there are witches, armored bears and daemons.

Through the movie, Lyra comes of age, starting with adoring her elegant female relative and trying to simulate her, and ending with the realization that not everything beautiful is good.

Unfortunately the movie was not very successful financially, and in the US it actually flopped. Fans of the books felt the movie fails to capture its complexity. But Lyra’s character is one of the stronger aspects of the movie, and is very interesting to watch.

5. Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)

Oh, the troubles the three Baudelaire kids face! Teenagers Violet and Klaus and their baby sister Sunny have been orphaned. Their evil relative Count Olaf receives custody over them, but he is only after the family fortune and constantly tries to kill them…

The siblings are launched on a strange, magnificent journey, in which they try simultaneously to take care of each other, find out the truth about their parents’ death, and always keep one step ahead from the evil count.

Visually stunning and wickedly funny, this film really takes advantage of the fantastic world as a vehicle to depict real-life troubles.

4. Merlin (2008 ongoing)

Merlin is a relatively new BBC series based (loosely) on Arthurian legends and myths. What differentiates it from countless other movies, TV shows, books and plays on the topic is the focus on Merlin and Arthur as teenagers.

In the first episode, Arthur, the “king of the class,” bullies nerdy Merlin.
Merlin, on his part, is busy flaunting his magical talents to his friends and keeping them secret from the adults.

At some points it feels like Freaks and Geeks set in medieval times. But of course there’s a strong fantasy element, with dragons, knights and plenty of spells.

The show was very successful and a second series was commissioned by BBC. Once again, the teenage-fantasy combination proved its worth.

3. Coraline (2009)

This film differs from other in this list in that 11-year-old Coraline Jones is not a teenager, rather a tween. But Coraline is already dealing with many coming-of-age issues. She movies to a new town, her parents have hardly any time for her, and there’s no one her age except a weird boy wearing a metallic scull mask…

This movie is real eye-candy. The stop motion animation is beautiful, similar to The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Corpse Bride only more colorful and fantastic-looking. And the way Coraline’s everyday world integrates with the fantastic one really gets the best of both worlds.

2. Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

Of all the teenage-magic combinations, this is the most similar to Harry Potter (the earlier movies). Kiki is a 13-year-old apprentice witch who, as part of her training, must leave her home town and family. Accompanied by her talking cat and second-hand flying broom, Kiki sets off for her adventure.

As the story develops it becomes clear that Kiki’s journey is also a coming-of-age process. In order to fully complete this year of training, she must discover her special skills, learn how to take responsibility, and recognize the value of money and hard work.

Kiki represents the magical side, whereas the city she lands in is completely “ordinary” magic-free. Kiki needs to convince everyone she can do good with her powers, while also dealing with regular teenage issues like boyfriends and having nothing to wear to parties…

1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

The 6th book brings Harry’s teenage life and magical life to a climax. Harry finally experiences truly falling in love, while Ron and Hermione move between jealousy, anger and affection. (Check out this overview from the cast on ReelzChannel.) It’s not easy being a teenager while the entire world around you crumbles, and you’re supposed to save it!

So will Harry Potter be the biggest hit of summer 2009? Will it top Transformers? Comment and let us know what you think!

Search on Jinni for -

Magical * Based on a Book * Wizards and Magicians * Teenage Life * Curses, Spells and Rituals * Coming of Age * High School Life * Fantasy * Fall in Love * Socially Awkward * Vampire * Mini Series * Androids and Robots * Good vs. Evil * Hit TV Series * Superhuman Powers * Family Life * Journey * Orphan * Witch * Talking Animals * Boyfriend * Stylish * Stop Motion * Anime * Legends and Myths

Technorati Tags: movie, film, Movie Genome, Harry Potter, HP6, HBP, Half Blood Prince, fantasy, teenage life, coming of age

Popularity: 5% [?]

It seems likely that in an economic downturn, we’ll buy fewer theater tickets. Instead, we’ll rent more DVDs and continue to watch more online, free as well as pay-to-stream or pay-to-download. We expect that smarter tools for choosing what to watch will be especially important in huge DVD and online catalogues.

But what will we watch? These kinds of things are hard to predict, but here are a few highlights of what Americans enjoyed during hard economic times in the past.

1929: Stock markets crashed worldwide and the U.S. entered the Great Depression.
Top-grossing movie (courtesy of The Numbers): The Broadway Melody

The Broadway Melody had many firsts: MGM’s first musical film, one of the first musicals with a color sequence, and the first sound film to win Best Picture at the Oscars. A backstage show biz love triangle starring two sisters, it’s a light melodrama with plenty of Broadway clichés.

1973: Quadrupling of oil prices by OPEC alongside government spending on the Vietnam War led to stagflation.
Top-grossing movie: The Exorcist

What are those noises in the attic? A young girl is possessed and her desperate mother enlists the help of two priests to exorcise the demon… Very graphic for its time, it was dismissed by Rolling Stone as “nothing more than a religious porn film” – but terrified audiences made it one of the top-grossing horror films of all time.

1987: Black Monday (October 19 1987) was the largest one-day percentage decline in stock market history.
Top-grossing movie: 3 Men and a Baby

Three bachelors find themselves forced to take care of a baby left by one of their girlfriends. With the tagline “They changed her diapers. She changed their lives,” this goofy, feel-good movie was a big hit.

1990: The early 90s recession began as industrial production and manufacturing-trade sales fell off.
Top-grossing movie: Home Alone

An eight year-old is accidentally left behind when his family leaves for Christmas vacation, and has to defend his home against bumbling burglars. A feel-good family classic. Those who remember the early 90s recession also remember Macaulay Culkin back when he was young and cute.

2001: The collapse of the Dot com bubble, along with 9/11 and corporate scandal, led to economic contraction.
Top-grossing movie: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

The first movie about the boy magician, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the fight against Voldemort and the forces of evil. The books became an international obsession among children and adults alike, and the movies stuck close to the original stories and rode the wave to box office success.

There are some notably similar themes among these hits, based on our Movie Genome.

Young heroes * In danger * Feel good * Goofy heroes * Good vs. evil * Sibling relations * Friendship * Lighthearted * Supernatural ability * Mother and daughter
- Inspired? You can search any or several of these on Jinni.

What’s your favorite in this list? And what types of movies do you predict people will choose in the current financial crisis?

Popularity: 13% [?]