Film Adaptation
Ever since the book was released, Scientologist and science-fiction fan John Travolta aimed to bring Hubbard's book to the big screen in a series of two movies with himself playing Jonnie Goodboy Tyler, as well as producing. A film was planned to be released in 1983, but due to rising costs and trouble in finding a studio, the project was cancelled. It was finally produced by Franchise Pictures in 2000 as Battlefield Earth. Directed by Roger Christian, it starred Travolta (who felt he was too old to play the hero) as Terl, Barry Pepper as Jonnie Goodboy Tyler, and Forest Whitaker as Ker.
The film opened to nearly universal negative reviews and was a huge box office bomb. Due to word of mouth and Internet buzz, it quickly disappeared from theatre chains. Almost all aspects of the film were criticized: hammy acting by Travolta, the film's overuse of Dutch angles, corny dialogue, and several plot inconsistencies. A sequel, although planned for a 2002 release, was never made. Franchise was later sued and went bankrupt after it emerged that the company had fraudulently overstated the film's budget.
Read more about this topic: Battlefield Earth (novel)
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