I think it's time for another adaption of a game: CHESS

[Airwings]

Now that Ridley Scott is producing an upcoming Monopoly movie for Universal, why not go all the way and make a live action feature based on Chess?
It should be set in the middle ages. Two kingdoms should be at war. The white one is evil and want to conquer more land, so they attack the good black one. (white always makes the first draw)

It's a fun play with the reversing of roles, having the white to be the villains.
It should be a regurlar war adventure with knights and kings. But at one point during the film, the battlefield should change into a chess board, and we see everything from above. Just like in the Doom film, where the FPS view was used for a short amount of time.

I've had this idea for years, and I think it could be fun to see.
And YES, bishops and pawns, as well as the queens, should fight too.
One problem though, is how to make the rocks/towers move around without it becoming too silly.

 

[terry78]

Every movie with a protagonist and an antagonist is already chess. Or checkers if it's a stupider movie.

 

[Teelie]

So 95% of movies are essentially games of checkers.

 

[Airwings]

Every movie with a protagonist and an antagonist is already chess.

Not the way I described it. I meant an actual adaption of the game Chess.

 

[Pink Ranger]

There's a musical with that title too. Written by Scandinavians, no less. t:

 

[Laderlappen]

There's a musical with that title too. Written by Scandinavians, no less. t:

by the guys in ABBA actually.

 

[Pink Ranger]

by the guys in ABBA actually.

I saw the Craig Revel Horwood production: it was amazing. To simulate the battle of the game, the pieces were represented by dancers who danced around the stage during matches.

So, EXACTLY what Airwings is describing above. t:

 

[Airwings]

So, EXACTLY what Airwings is describing above. t:

No, I describe a medieval war film

 

[Pink Ranger]

No, I describe a medieval war film

Ah, so something like Pippin then. t:

 

[Human Torch]

I get my kicks above the waistline,sunshine.t:

 

[Pink Ranger]

I get my kicks above the waistline,sunshine.t:

The queens we use would not excite you. t:

 

[Yurka]

I read a script a while ago that was this exact idea and it wasn't very good...

 

[Tanin]

Tron has already been done. No need for another.

 

[Airwings]

This would be different from Tron, though.

If an existing script is bad, then just write another one.
There are several script writers here, right?

 

[Pink Ranger]

Heh, I can see this working as a Terence Malick-style surrealist fantasy film, with a real-life chessmaster tournament taking place in our world, paralleling a stylized conflict in another, fantasy-based world.

 

[Dark Raven]

I think people would automatically associate it with the stage musical "Chess".

What Airwings is describing sounds more like any other generic medieval or ancient warriors movie. Nothing that specifically links it to the game.

But an adaptation of "Chess" the musical would work. It would be set against the backdrop of the Cold War and would actually show the game being played as well as even having people potentially dressed like pieces dancing the musical numbers.

Also it was only the males from ABBA and not the females, so only half of them who were the song writing team, but it was a collaboration with Tim Rice who worked on Evita.

Seeing how well Les Miserables did, an adaption of Chess could work well. "One Night in Bangkok" is also a famous hit song, and "I Know Him So Well" is quite well known too.

 

[Pink Ranger]

I think people would automatically associate it with the stage musical "Chess".

Chess was never that popular of a musical. It has had a very mixed production history, with a few bombs here and there. The production I saw was a pre-Broadway trial, and while I thought the show was terrific, it did not do well and did not get to play in New York.

I like it, but even avid musical theatre followers are fairly ambivalent or even dismissive of it, outside of a couple of its key showcase numbers. You'd be amazed that most people who know the Bangkok song just think it is a novelty 80s hit and are surprised to learn it is from a musical.

 

[Airwings]

What Airwings is describing sounds more like any other generic medieval or ancient warriors movie. Nothing that specifically links it to the game.

How generic is it for bishops to be on the battlefield? Or to let a queen be the most powerful warrior?

Read my FP again, please!

 

[The Guard]

I think a CHESS musical film is a great idea.

An adaption of the game seems pointless. The game and its intricacies have been featured in many films already. It might be the most overused screen metaphor of all time.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Sorry Airwings, the musical theatre crowd has hijacked your thread. I blame myself.

A standard film of Chess the musical would not work, but I would like to see a filmed live stage version, like they did with Rent and Phantom of the Opera (the good version, not the one with Gerard Butler). Preferably the CRH production, that was amazing, with most of the instruments played live on stage, and the fetishized costumes for the chess pieces.

 

[The Guard]

There is the concert, which is about as interesting as it gets. The problem with CHESS is that stage versions of CHESS tend to be incredibly boring and/or weird, hence the hatred many have for the show. The music is great. The story itself, not so impressive. This movie would need some closeup, intense visual work. Something you don't usually get with a stage show.

 

[flickchick85]

Yeah, the story for Chess the musical isn't great. But I saw the televised concert version with Idina Menzel, Josh Groban and Adam Pascal, and enjoyed it just for the music/performances. I don't think a movie version would work, tbh.

 

[Dark Raven]

Well the story of Chess has been revised many times over the years so they could simply revise it again for a film adaptation. I think if they just retain the Cold War backdrop and the basic love story (and of course, the musical numbers) they can change other things to suit the big screen. I'm sure some of it will have to be more surrealistic to incorporate dancers dressed as chess pieces, because a standard filmed chess game wouldn't be that interesting.

Wasn't it, at one point, gradually updated or even slightly modernised to incorporate the end of the Cold War? But then when the Soviet Union fell, they just reset it to its original period setting for subsequent productions.

I think a Cold War setting with period costumes and sets would look fantastic.

I think the musical score is underrated.

Chess the musical as a movie would have to be a bit like a filmed stage version anyway, just with bigger sets. It's the same with a musical like Starlight Express. With that, you'd want to see all the fantastic, almost comic-book-like costumes and people dressed as trains, and not real trains itself. Same with Chess. It's better to have people dressed as chess pieces.

And obviously Craig Revel Horwood is very well known over here in the UK, being one of the judges on Strictly Come Dancing.

How generic is it for bishops to be on the battlefield? Or to let a queen be the most powerful warrior?

Read my FP again, please!

I have read it already. And even if they did incorporate those elements, it still is just a slight variation on an otherwise standard battle movie. There's also no way to include things such as knights only being able to move in an L shape or bishops in a diagonal line etc, so I can't see how it would even really look like it's chess - just a medieval battle with the name "chess" slapped over it.

 

[Pink Ranger]

I think Toronto was privileged in being the only North American market to get the CRH production of Chess. That was really good, IMO. Too bad the lacklustre ticket sales it got here basically killed the production's chances of going to either Broadway or on a cross-continent tour.

 

[Dark Raven]

They maybe need to promote/ release some of the individual songs again - perhaps some cover versions.

The way many of the musicals over here in London become popular are simply because of the songs. There are a ton of musicals which are just structured around the hit songs of a particular artist, even if they weren't musical numbers in the first place - eg Jersey Boys, We Will Rock You and others I can't remember off hand.

CRH should've maybe released his version in the UK first and then gone on tour elsewhere instead of trying it in Toronto. Not only is he well known over here, but Chess had a longer run in the UK in the first place when it was originally playing. I still remember seeing the bus posters and the actual theatre decorated with the chess board.