The Best Sci-Fi Film Never Made

[jamesww]

Use of Weapons declared best sci-fi film never made

11th May 2011

Our poll to name the best sci-fi film never made has returned Use of Weapons by Iain M Banks as the book Reg readers would most like to see projected on the silver screen.


The 50 candidates attracted a whopping 27,088 votes, with the winner securing 10,032. Runner-up was Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's The Mote In God's Eye, which was honoured with 7,099 votes. You can see the full results right here.

So, Hollywood take note: scrap plans to "reimagine" Total Recall and get down to making something original.

I haven't personally read Use of Weapons, so I'll leave it to you lot to suggest how it might best be brought to the big screen. If we get some decent casting/directorial suggestions, we'll look into knocking up a poster to celebrate the movie which is yet to be. ®

http://m.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/11/sci_fi_poll/

Poll results here:
http://forms.theregister.co.uk/poll/?id=28

The best sci-fi film never made

Use of Weapons 37% (10032)

The Mote In God's Eye 26% (7099)

Foundation 3% (682)

Neuromancer 2% (623)

The Stainless Steel Rat 2% (610)

Ender's Game 2% (581)

Rendezvous With Rama 2% (538)

Ringworld 2% (478)

Snow Crash 2% (436)

Consider Phlebas 1% (356)

Altered Carbon 1% (298)

Excession 1% (288)

Night's Dawn 1% (279)

The Player of Games 1% (279)

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress 1% (260)

The Forever War 1% (248)

Stranger in a Strange Land 1% (232)

Dragonriders of Pern 1% (223)

Hyperion 1% (210)

The Atrocity Archives 1% (196)

Cryptonomicon 1% (193)

The Stars My Destination 1% (193)

The Chronicles of Amber 1% (189)

Eon 1% (184)

Lensmen 1% (178)

On Basilisk Station 1% (169)

The Algebraist 1% (142)

Childhood's End 1% (137)

The Man in the High Castle 0% (129)

Footfall 0% (128)

A Fire Upon the Deep 0% (106)

The City and the Stars 0% (105)

Lord of Light 0% (103)

A Canticle for Leibowitz 0% (95)

The Gap Cycle 0% (91)

Titan 0% (90)

Old Man's War 0% (87)

Gateway 0% (78)

Protector 0% (74)

Deathworld 0% (72)

The Baroque Cycle 0% (70)

Lucifer's Hammer 0% (67)

Downbelow Station 0% (65)

The Forge of God 0% (64)

The Legacy of Heorot 0% (61)

The Demolished Man 0% (58)

Cities in Flight 0% (57)

The Technicolor Time Machine 0% (57)

Skylark 0% (50)

Dorsai 0% (48)
Total votes cast - 27088.

[Caliga]

The Mote In God's Eye would potentially make a fantastic movie.

I love Foundation and its sequels, but it seems like much too large a story to make into a movie unless you planned like a 12 movie franchise.  If they tried to condense multiple books into one movie, it would probably suck.

[Zanza2]

I think The Player of Games would be more suitable for a film if you want to pick something by Banks.

[Josquius]

Neuromancer would be a good film, the bad writing wouldn't show through on the screen.
Shame the retro 80sness wouldn't sell.

[Caliga]

Neuromancer would be a good film, the bad writing wouldn't show through on the screen.

Unfortunately a Neuromancer movie would be compared to The Matrix ad nauseum.

[Malthus]

I'd love to see Cryptonomicon and the Baroque Cycle filmed ... but they are not really "science fiction". 

[Slargos]

Otherland.

But they're making a game of it so perhaps that will be enough.

[garbon]

Otherland.

But they're making a game of it so perhaps that will be enough.

That series pissed me off so much. I like reading the books but the ending was such a let down.  Actually I don't even remember the ending but I remember how much it pissed me off.

[The Brain]

They should all be directed by Peter Jackson.

[PRC]

I think The Player of Games would be more suitable for a film if you want to pick something by Banks.

Totally agree!

[Syt]

I like reading the books but the ending was such a let down.

I haven't read Otherland, but I read his "Memory, Sorry and Thorn" series and felt the same about them. I found it hard to make it through the final 100 pages or so.

[Razgovory]

The Mote In God's Eye would potentially make a fantastic movie.

Best.  Aliens.  Ever.  Pat would like it.  Very Malthusy.

[Slargos]

Otherland.

But they're making a game of it so perhaps that will be enough.

That series pissed me off so much. I like reading the books but the ending was such a let down.  Actually I don't even remember the ending but I remember how much it pissed me off.

The story is fan-fucking-tastic but I can agree that it didn't have a spectacular ending.

[Razgovory]

The Mote In God's Eye would potentially make a fantastic movie.

Best.  Aliens.  Ever.  Pat would like it.  Very Malthusy.

Oh, and when I mean "Malthusy" I mean it in a Pat way which is to say the word is devoid of any real meaning.

[Neil]

While Ringworld would be cool for effects, it would be difficult to turn the story into an exciting popcorn film without wrecking it.

Alert Michael Bay!