Have you seen Disney's new movie release for next Christmas? It is about a Red-headed Princess from a land far away from this place and time - who - through magic done by a wicked queen is sent away. The Princess ends up in modern day New York and falls in love with a boy from modern times and can't decide to go back to her real home or stay in the now. And get this - the title is ENCHANTED.
This sounds unbelievably close to OSC's novel Enchantment. Really, I hardly think it could be a coincidence - when I first saw the IMDB site for it I thought they were filming the novel.
Thats crazy, huh?
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Titles are not copyrighted, and neither are ideas.
Given what you've described thus far, there's no evidence yet of copyright infringement.
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
I do think, though, that OSC should look into it.
Posted by PrometheusBound (Member # 10020) on :
I doubt he would do anything, even if he could, unless it was blatantly his story.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
After all, he didn't, AFAIK, do anything about Sixth Sense.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Well, he complained.
Maybe he should complain about this, too.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
The idea for what's now called Enchanted has been kicking around at Walt Disney features since at least the early 90s.
From what I know of the plot and characters, it doesn't have much similarity to Enchantment. It's more a metafictional homage to/parody of the classic Disney fairy tale flicks.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: Well, he complained.
Maybe he should complain about this, too.
I've only seen him praise The Sixth Sense.
Can you provide a link to where he complained about it?
Posted by DDDaysh (Member # 9499) on :
It's not like the "fairy tale in modern day" thing hasn't been done before. The details are what make the story.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head:
quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: Well, he complained.
Maybe he should complain about this, too.
I've only seen him praise The Sixth Sense.
Can you provide a link to where he complained about it?
I can't point you to a specific post of his, but the general gist of what I think I remember seeing him say was "well, crap. Now we can't do a movie version of Lost Boys".
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote: 14. Sixth Sense For many months I refused to see this movie because I had heard the premise and realized that because this film existed, my own novel Lost Boys could never be filmed. But I finally broke down and actually saw it, and ... sure, the writing and directing are good (though somebody ought to persuade this filmmaker that when it comes to "cool shots," less is more -- he has a way of leaping in front of his actors and saying, "Did you see how cool my directing is?"), but the reason this film works so extraordinarily well is the actors. Haley Joel Osment is a child actor in the same exalted league as Jackie Cooper, Roddy McDowell, Ricky Schroeder, Henry Thomas, and Elijah Wood. And ... maybe he's the best of them. Add to his performance Bruce Willis's charm and grace (has anybody else noticed that Willis is a likable Jack Nicholson?), and Toni Collette's portrayal of the mother moves her into the position that Meryl Streep only pretends to fill -- the actress who can make any character work.
He kinda complains about it here, but undercuts his complaint by saying that the movie Lost Boys can still be made.
quote: This isn't the first time. Sixth Sense was, absolutely, exactly what Hollywood was bound to do if it wanted to adapt a novel called Lost Boys -- you can't let the kid be dead, so ... you make it someone else who's a ghost without anybody knowing it, while the kid can still see dead people.
But the author of Lost Boys -- me -- knew that enough had been changed that there was no point in suing. Besides, if Lost Boys was filmed, I wanted it to be more faithful to the storyline of the novel -- and that film could still be made.
. . . . . . .
[ January 04, 2007, 02:21 PM: Message edited by: mr_porteiro_head ]
Posted by hatrkr81 (Member # 9317) on :
quote:Originally posted by Noemon: I can't point you to a specific post of his, but the general gist of what I think I remember seeing him say was "well, crap. Now we can't do a movie version of Lost Boys".
I remember him saying this too...though I don't remember the specific thread.
Posted by corinne2509 (Member # 9878) on :
Well, I guess it might not actually be an issue there. It just is quite similiar, tho. When I saw the production stills with the redhead princess in modern day New York and then saw the name, I thought it was the book. Even when I read the synopsis with the details changed I still thought it was maybe an adaptation.
Also, I think he complained about Lost Boys when The Village came out b/c I guess M. Night S. completely ripped that story from a YA novel.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
*wonders if the last two posters read his latest post*
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
A further difference is that Enchanted focuses on a lead character who comes from a completely fictional, fantastical, 2-D animated world. -Not- from a live-action setting based on historical and mythological Russia.
Posted by hatrkr81 (Member # 9317) on :
HAHA...gotcha mr_porteiro_head..Looks like we were posting at the same time. Thanks for finding that.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Can we post some spoiler warnings << deleted - thanks MPH! >> We get people here fairly often who don't know the ending, and if ever a book deserves to not be spoiled, it's that one.
[ January 04, 2007, 09:00 PM: Message edited by: Dagonee ]
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I didn't mean "complain" as "complain", necessarily, I guess. I meant "make some noise."
And I think it's a good thing for him to do, not a bad thing. I think if the studio isn't aware of similarities, they should be made aware, so maybe next time they'll do a little more research (unless they don't care.)
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
As far as I can tell, it was long after the fact that Card said anything about it in public.
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
If people got upset every time someone used an idea similar to their's there would be a lot more grumpy people in this world.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Thanks, MPH.
Posted by AvidReader (Member # 6007) on :
The description reminds me of a tv show I remember watching a couple decades ago. Snow White, Prince Charming, the Evil Witch, and one of the dwarves ended up in the modern world. They all had a house together and had to try to get along.
I think I liked it, but it was a long time ago. My taste was definitely questionable when I was little.
Posted by skruesch (Member # 675) on :
I think I remember that show...it was a sitcom called "The Charmings" but I don't think it was all that charming, and I don't think it lasted very long! At least I don't remember watching it more than once...but my memories is like swiss cheese, so what do I know? Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Doesn't really sound especially similar to OSC's novel to me. (Unless you're conceding that OSC stole the idea for Ender's Game from Heinlein's Starship Troopers.)
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Disney's "Movie Surfers" recently showed three clips from Enchanted, as well as provided a more detailed synopsis.
Any similarities between it and the novel Enchantment seem more contextual than content-wise.
Posted by JonHecht (Member # 9712) on :
quote:Originally posted by Icarus: Doesn't really sound especially similar to OSC's novel to me. (Unless you're conceding that OSC stole the idea for Ender's Game from Heinlein's Starship Troopers.)
Heinlein created the whole "war sci fi" genre. Though, the buggers do relate somewhat to the novel. Bugs are the natural enemy to have though, one can't blame OSC for picking them. People are already scared of them, without them being massive and intelligent. However, if.. say he named the main character of Ender's Game Juan Rico, then I would be a bit suspicious.
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
quote:Heinlein created the whole "war sci fi" genre.
What do you mean? Heinlein wasn't the first to write about war within a science fiction setting.
Are there specific characteristics of "war sci fi" that Heinlein established before anyone else?
If so, what are the characteristics? What is "war sci fi"?
Posted by Amanecer (Member # 4068) on :
I loved Enchanted, but the idea of fairy tale characters coming over to the modern world or modern characters going to fairy tale land is far from unique to that one book. I think calling this a copyright issue is a bit of a stretch.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
I just finished Enchantment this morning and I have to say that doesn't really sound like the book from what you've described. They fall in love, yes, in time, but that took a fair amount of time. She also didn't really have to decide whether or not to stay in one world or the other.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
Actually, since studios seem to like to copy one another the chances of Enchantment being filmed go up somewhat. Maybe. They'd probably call it something different.
Posted by Sibyl (Member # 10079) on :
quote:Originally posted by JonHecht:
quote:Originally posted by Icarus: Doesn't really sound especially similar to OSC's novel to me. (Unless you're conceding that OSC stole the idea for Ender's Game from Heinlein's Starship Troopers.)
Heinlein created the whole "war sci fi" genre. Though, the buggers do relate somewhat to the novel. Bugs are the natural enemy to have though, one can't blame OSC for picking them. People are already scared of them, without them being massive and intelligent. However, if.. say he named the main character of Ender's Game Juan Rico, then I would be a bit suspicious.
Not Hardly! Though I yield to no one in my admiration (even adoration! I have a framed picture of him, cut from a dust jacket, on my dresser!) for RAH, there's been War Science Fiction as long as there's been SF. You could say it started with War of the Worlds, or maybe with The Odyssey. And BEMs (Bug Eyed Monsters) were a cliche well before OSC was _born_.
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
Porter, read OSC's review of "The Village". IIRC, he made a comment that seemed kinda accusatory of M. Night Shamalan concerning "Lost Boys".
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
Porter linked to that. Just sayin' and all that.
Posted by stihl1 (Member # 1562) on :
I'm sorry, but Lost Boys is nothing like Sixth Sense at all. Both kids can see ghosts. That's as far as the similarities go.
Posted by docmagik (Member # 1131) on :
Spoilers for Lost Boys and The Sixth Sense . . . . . . . . . . . Actually, a one-sentance summary of the plot of the whole movie would be the same, including the big twist:
"Story about a guy trying to help a boy who sees ghosts, and at the end it turns out that he's dead."
The only difference is in who the pronoun "he" describes.
Anyone could argue that Lost Boys might feel like a Sixth Sense knock-off if you look at in that light.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
:scratches head:
If you look at it from a deliberately misleading light? Okay . . . point conceded I guess. What does that prove again?
![[Confused]](confused.gif)