Ender's Game Movie Reaches Endgame

When we last heard about the Ender's Game movie, it wasn't exactly great news: Wolfgang Peterson was reportedly off the project in April 2008. Now comes word from the LA Times (via Chud and Firstshowing) that the movie won't be happening at all. In a profile to help card promote the November release of his new book, Ender in Exile, the Times offhandedly revealed that the movie project was terminated in November 2008. According to Card he "was not interested in a 'tough-hero action film' and refuses to condescend to green-screen Hollywood. Card imagines a 'film where the human relationships are absolutely essential — an honest presentation of the story.'"

I'm honestly not too saddened by this news. Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game was one of my favorite books in high school, and probably still remains my favorite science fiction story of all time. If I read it today, I might find that time has changed my opinion, but from what I remember, it had touching moments about the struggles of adolescence and precociousness, while simultaneously weaving in a thrilling tale of alien invasion. Capturing all of these elements in a successful film, while retaining the book's spirit, would have been a daunting challenge to say the least. In fact, according to the LA Times article, Card has struggled with a film adaptation of Ender's Game for two decades. Maybe some books are just "unfilmable."

Discuss: Do you still want to see an Ender's Game film one day?