Film Adaptation
Following the successful motion picture adaptations of other fantasy classics, it was announced in 2005 that the series was being developed as a major motion picture. The Seeker was a joint venture between 20th Century Fox and Walden Media. John Hodge wrote the screenplay and the film was directed by David L. Cunningham and produced by Marc E. Platt. Ian McShane played the role of Merriman Lyon while Alexander Ludwig played the young Will Stanton as an American. Frances Conroy and Christopher Eccleston (as The Rider) also star. Filming began in February 2007 in Bucharest, Romania. The film was released on October 5, 2007, in the U.S. and the U.K. It was not successful.
Screenwriter Hodge made substantial changes to the novel's plot and tone to differentiate it from Harry Potter. For example regarding the plot, the film version of Will Stanton is a 13 to 14-year-old American; Merriman Lyon is not a tall, white-haired, beak-nosed man; the seeking of the powerful pre-Christian elemental solar wheel signs (a major plot point of the book) is eliminated, etc. Author Cooper was disappointed by these changes and requested that some be undone.
Read more about this topic: The Dark Is Rising Sequence
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