Dan Simmons’ Hyperion Comes to the Big Screen

Posted by on April 3rd, 2008   Filed under: Books/Comics, Sci-fi
Source: Coming Soon

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It seems like sci-fi novels are a hot item in Hollywood right now, and another Hugo Award-winning book is about to get a feature film adaptation. Dan Simmons’ Hyperion Cantos series has been optioned by Warner Brothers; this currently includes 4 books plus a few additional short stories. The first two books, Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, will be adapted into one movie, with Trevor Sands (Finding Interest, Resurrection) being hired to write the script.

The series is set in a future world where travel between planets is possible using a form of teleportation known as farcasting. On the planet Hyperion, a mysterious creature called The Shrike guards the Time Tombs, an area where time seems to shift and warp. A group of pilgrims set off to face The Shrike, each for their own reasons.

It kind of makes sense that the first two books would be made as one movie (when I read them I was a little miffed that the first book ends on a cliffhanger), however, the stories are very dense and it’s hard to picture it all making sense in 90 minutes. I’m guessing it will have to be a pretty long movie to do the books justice. However, I also think that these books may be a bit too high-brow for the casual moviegoer, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they have to dumb it down somehow. Either way, I’d love to see this movie just to find out what kind of imagery they can conjure up to go with Dan Simmons’ words. Any Hyperion fans out there? Do you think a feature film can work?



  • Itchy-Finger

    I’ve never read the Hyperion books but I am a big fan of fantasy movies. I really hope they make this movie darker than what has been coming out lately.

  • theDia

    For me Hyperion and its sequels are by far the best Sci-Fi Books ever. Only the Ilium-Saga by the same writer comes close.

    But you´re right – its almost impossible to compress the books in just a few hours. I think they will concentrate on two of the five pilgrims – probably the girl (and her father of course;)) and the priest – and so making it another typical hollywood big budget stinker.

    At least the name Dan Simmons will be better known after the movie – so theres some good in this bad. :)

  • It’s sci-fi, so I’m in.

  • Dale

    Also a fan of the books Sean. Hyperion would be in my top 10 novels. I would like to see two films; the structure of the first would be great with the protagonists relating their stories.

    I can’t see one film capturing the complexity of the two novels.

  • Neil

    When I first read Hyperion, I was 14 or 15. A lot of it went over my head at the time. After the third read, I found I could finally wrap my brain around most of the higher concepts. I agree with the others who have said that a single movie cannot do this story justice. At worst, it could turn out to be any of the following:

    -An incomprehensible action movie mess
    -A cheesy “sci/fi cum horror” flick.
    -A boring, incomprehensible sci/fi talk fest.

    In recent years, I’ve become more and more enchanted with HBO than the movie theater. I would love for this to be an HBO series adapted by, say, Daniel Knauf (Carnivale).

    I have no expectations for this movie adaptation. Mr. Sands is sort of an unproven talent at this point, no?

  • The only other sci-fi-fantasy stuff I’d like to see is the LONG awaited “Runelords” series that was supposed to be a movie, but for some reason never came to be. They had a good cast set and pfffffffft nothing!

    But I would definitely check this out!

  • Chris

    It’s funny, whilst reading hyperion’s sequel “The Fall of Hyperion” I remember thinking that they couldn’t ever possibly make a decent movie of these books- there’s too much complex imagery and mental diagolue. But here we are, and I can’t wait! If they can pull off the graphics necessary, it will be amazing! I especially can’t wait to see the shrike. One film for two books as dense as this though? Expect some serious modifications to the plot!

  • Reed Farrington

    I found Neil’s comment about reading Hyperion at an early age and then rereading it to understand it better apropos to my past experience with reading Dune. I think most people disliked David Lynch’s Dune. I was disappointed, but I think it was because my mental imagery didn’t match what I saw on screen.

    As for Hyperion, I have the Hyperion collection and Ilium, and I have attempted to read these books, but alas, perhaps my advanced age has made my brain impervious to fresh ideas. I don’t find Simmons’ prose very engaging or poetic. But I know I am in the minority opinion on this.

    I would rather have a bad movie made than have no movie made at all. Maybe if I saw a movie made from this material, I might finally be able to get through the books.

  • Will

    It would take 7 movies just to capture Hyperion correctly! Oh well, we’ll see what happens.

  • Drew Dehel

    This is exciting news, though I admit I am very skeptical they will do a good job.

    I LOVE this series, especially the 1st 2nd and 4th books, but I can see book 3 being an interesting movie, too. But my love of the series is why I also want to cringe about a film version. It has so much potential, and I have seen so many great ideas turned into garbage by Hollywood.

    I also agree with Dale’s comment – I think that there is NO WAY I could ever be satisfied with 1 movie combining the 1st 2 books. NEVER. The plot twist introduced in the 2nd book is too great an idea for exploring to cram it into the 1st movie. And the individual tales of the Pilgrims and the just astoundingly wonderfully diverse worlds of the World Web (such as God’s Grove) are too beautiful not to explore fully in AT LEAST one movie.

    So it needs 2 long films for the 1st 2 books. :-)

    I can see the pilgrims’ tales being explored pretty well in a long movie. I’d have to think a lot about what detail to include and points to focus on, but I think it could be done by someone good (though its years since I last read it). And it has a horror edge in the Shrike to keep things interesting, but that must not get out of hand, it is not a horror film.

    And I do think that it can end with the cliffhanger at the end of the 1st book, the setup is so good and interesting. So what if it doesn’t resolve, it’s an EPIC and people will come back to see it knowing ahead of time that this is the 1st half. It has the potential to be one of the greatest sci-fi films / series ever made.

    The 1st 2 books stand well as a pair alone and so the 1st 2 movies will complete well. Then if it does well, the 2nd pair of books takes it in a somewhat different direction tbuilding on the 1st pair.

    With the 2nd pair, I have such strong visions of Catholic-garbed starship commanders and this new order… There is so much potential here.

    I am re-reading the 4th book at the moment and I have been visualizing an adaptation to motion gtaphics. Sorry for the long post. I am just excited and scared. :-)

  • Spratley

    When I hear that Hollywood has its hooks in my favorite stories, I find myself more angry than excited these days. I would love to watch six hours of totally unmarketable, brilliant, epic film. But I am prepared for two hours and 26 minutes of Michael Bay-esque farcaster fight-chases, scares when you least/most expect them and and a sweaty erotic sex scene somewhere in the lull of the third act.

    F**k adaptations!

  • Kenneth

    im just reading the cantos again and as much as i like the idea of a movie series there is no way it will be a quarter as good as the books if they just compresse two books in 1 movie. well can just wait and see now.