15 August 2007

Tried to Find the Key to 50 Million Fables

Fox has changed the title of what we've been calling "The Dark Is Rising movie" to The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising.

According to a message quoted at ArtsandFaith.com, the stated reasoning is:

As the film is based on a sequence of 5 books and THE SEEKER: THE DARK IS RISING is inspired by the second book. The focus of this story is on the character who is referred to as The Seeker and his quest to "seek" and collect signs hidden throughout time to right the balance between dark and light. THE SEEKER: THE DARK IS RISING more accurately describes the focus of the film.
Irate online movie fans point out that these days a movie series' name usually goes first, as in the mellifluous Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones. But that's the sort of thing only online movie fans get irate about.

The title change might indicate that the studio sees enough potential in this movie to position itself to make sequels: Greenwitch: The Dark Is Rising, and so on.

Then again, it might just be that children around the world have come to associate the position of "Seeker" with exciting action sequences, and the studio knows the Dark Is Rising fan base has already given up.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I assume you don't read EW, so here's anote about the attention given to Dark in the latest issue:

"Looks like Harry Potter if you squint." (or something close to that.)

I would have expected EW to be aware that Dark predates HP, but perhaps the Dark movie really is shaping up as a HP-wannabe.

J. L. Bell said...

I not only subscribe to Entertainment Weekly, but I actually read it, unlike other magazines I simply feel guilty about.

I thought the most significant aspect of the magazine's coverage of The Seeker: TDIR is that that was all it said. The movie was shunted into a round-up of other one-line previews instead of getting even a paragraph of its own. A sign of how much faith or interest the industry has in it?

Anonymous said...

As a librarian we have been sent tons of literature, bookmarks, flyers, posters and mini posters for the movie, yet I have yet to see any advertising which is remarkable for a major movie due out this Friday. A lot of us are concerned but not surprised with the title change. It's riding on HP's robetails