It appears that 20th Century Fox is looking to make a Choose Your Own Adventure movie, and has already acquired the right to use the name, and lined up one of the creators of the 1980’s book line as an executive producer. Â The Hollywood Reporter describes the endeavor as a “crossplatform four-quadrant action-adventure franchise,” indicating that 20th Century Fox may be attempting to create an extremely interactive experience, with multiple types of media involved.
While this is not the first time a movie has involved alternate endings (see the wonderfully campy Clue) and movies have certainly been made off of less extensive material (see the baffling Battleship), I’m personally a bit skeptical about this news.  Still, it seems the movie, and, if the quote above is to be believed, possible “franchise,” already has producers attached, and has already been pursued by Fox for several years.  Currently, John Davis and John Fox of Davis Entertainment, who have worked on I, Robot, Chronicle, and Predator are involved in producing the project.
The main question, assuming the film does get made, is what it will be about.  The Choose Your Own Adventure series, created by Edward Packard and R.A. Montgomery in the late 1970’s, covers a host of different genres over its 180 book run, which provides a host of different story lines that could be translated to the big screen.  However, it seems likely that the movie won’t be a carbon copy of an original Choose Your Own Adventure book.  As of now, only Montgomery, who retained the rights to the Choose Your Own Adventure brand name when he formed Chooseco Llc. without Packard, is involved with the film.  Packard, however, retains the rights to all his books, meaning that without his involvement, we’re unlikely to see any of those stories translated to film.
It seems likely, given 20th Century Fox’s desire for a franchise that extends beyond the screen and perhaps incorporates viewers in the same way that a reality show or interactive online presence might, that the story will not be all together familiar, and instead a calculated attempt to saturate viewers with Choose Your Own Adventure entertainment from as many angles as possible. Â If this movie somehow succeeds where other attempts to make movies more interactive have failed, I’m afraid we might have another case like the rise of 3D movies on our hands. Â But I’ll let you choose your own opinion on the matter.
(via The Hollywood Reporter, i09)
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