Fantasy Netflix's The Witcher - General Discussion Thread

[KillerMcQueen]

It is a great manip, but as far as Ciri casting goes Dormer is literally twenty years older than the age they're looking for. They're looking for early to mid teens for the part, also kind of expecting them to cast a child version of Ciri in addition to the teenage Ciri.

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

I hope we get more casting announcements next week.

 

[TheVileOne]

It's a cute manip, but this is going to be young kid, early teen Ciri, not adult Ciri.

Some fun fan art of Cavill as Geralt.

I guess this one makes him look a bit dreamier.

 

[OutOfBoose]

Dat eyeliner job, though.

 

[TheVileOne]

Hopefully this is real:

Hard for me to take a random reddit post as a legit source for news. We shall see.

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

It's a cute manip, but this is going to be young kid, early teen Ciri, not adult Ciri.

Some fun fan art of Cavill as Geralt.

I guess this one makes him look a bit dreamier.

Amazing.

 

[Iceman]

The standard of manips so far has been really high. Hope that continues as actors are cast.

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

The standard of manips so far has been really high. Hope that continues as actors are cast.

Totally!

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

Filming begins in 18 days...

 

[KillerMcQueen]

hopefully we can get some official photos when they start filming, very interested to get an idea of what direction they'll go with the visuals. And it feels kind of weird that we don't have more casting news with filming so close.

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

hopefully we can get some official photos when they start filming, very interested to get an idea of what direction they'll go with the visuals. And it feels kind of weird that we don't have more casting news with filming so close.

Yes, I really hope we see something.

 

[Black Narcissus]

I bet more casting comes this week.

 

[OutOfBoose]

On related note, Sapkowski is suing CDPR for $16 mil.

So looks like reality hit the guy. Games are awesome and now he wants a slice of that money pie. Based on his interviews, I never liked him. And now this. CDPR busted their asses for a decade to make Witcher a franchise it is today (side effect is increased books sales and a TV series) and instead of "thank you" he attacks them? What an ass.

 

[Mani-Man]

On related note, Sapkowski is suing CDPR for $16 mil.

So looks like reality hit the guy. Games are awesome and now he wants a slice of that money pie. Based on his interviews, I never liked him. And now this. CDPR busted their asses for a decade to make Witcher a franchise it is today (side effect is increased books sales and a TV series) and instead of "thank you" he attacks them? What an ass.

Yeah the guy is trash.
He took the money in the first place because he didnt had a high opinion on games and didnt care enough about his own creation.
But now suddenly he is so into it, loves to work with Netflix, the money this "oh so dumb" gaming thing generated.

If i remember correctly he even said that any form of entertainment outside of books is trash...well outside of his books.
I cant stand the guy for one second.

 

[OutOfBoose]

Yeah, and what kind of excuse is that? "I didn't think anything will come out of this"... I get that not every artist has a businessman in them, but come on. You have to think a bit further than the end of your nose. Especially when it comes to the most accomplished work of your life.

 

[KillerMcQueen]

On related note, Sapkowski is suing CDPR for $16 mil.

So looks like reality hit the guy. Games are awesome and now he wants a slice of that money pie. Based on his interviews, I never liked him. And now this. CDPR busted their asses for a decade to make Witcher a franchise it is today (side effect is increased books sales and a TV series) and instead of "thank you" he attacks them? What an ass.

He should be kissing their a**es, not suing them, s*** like this makes me glad that he didn't get more money for the games, if he's gonna be an a**hole he doesn't deserve their money.

 

[TheVileOne]

I think there is a middle ground here. Not going to trash the guy. He created this whole world and all these characters. The books are really well done dark fantasy novels.

Now, do I agree with him about the games? No. I think he handled it the wrong way. Granted, CDPR wasn't CDPR over 10 years ago. But he didn't choose to help or work with them at all. He wanted a lump sum payment.

Granted I think CDPR maybe can figure out a deal here because he is the creator. I'm not sure how Polish copyright law works and how it pertains to creator royalties and such. I'm not sure if this is accurate but I saw one sort of citation of copyright law (on Reddit mind you) that seems to suggest creators might be entitled to more financial renumeration if the money made is vastly more than what they were originally paid based on the success of the adaptation. Again not sure that's accurate.

At the same time, CDPR offered Sapkowski a percentage, and he turned it down. He's talked about that openly. If this were to go to court or arbitration, that could be used against him.

 

[TheVileOne]

Yeah, and what kind of excuse is that? "I didn't think anything will come out of this"... I get that not every artist has a businessman in them, but come on. You have to think a bit further than the end of your nose. Especially when it comes to the most accomplished work of your life.

I mean look, do you think the likes of Jack Kirby, Bill Finger, Siegel and Schuster were thinking that far ahead? And from what I understand, those guys passed away fairly destitute. By all the legal definitions, I believe they basically signed away all their rights to Marvel.

In some ways, do I think the games have surpassed the books? Yes, I do. At the same time, I think there's a way we can sort of give some financial renumeration to artists and creators for their contributions to a creation if they become successful adaptations.

 

[OutOfBoose]

Not gonna pretend I know anything about the law of matters like this. It's mostly about the behavior for me. CDPR can go "good will gesture" way for sure and settle for some amount of money, but who knows... Mr. ******* can disagree or demand a new deal.

 

[OutOfBoose]

I mean look, do you think the likes of Jack Kirby, Bill Finger, Siegel and Schuster were thinking that far ahead? And from what I understand, those guys passed away fairly destitute. By all the legal definitions, I believe they basically signed away all their rights to Marvel.

In some ways, do I think the games have surpassed the books? Yes, I do. At the same time, I think there's a way we can sort of give some financial renumeration to artists and creators for their contributions to a creation if they become successful adaptations.

It's easy to be generous at someone else's expense. It's not like money just drop on CDPR because they're sitting on the franchise. They're huge part of what it became today. Of people you mentioned only Bill Finger was treated poorly. Siegel and Schuster sold the character before he became something truly special. Kirby was a celebrated creator at Marvel. In case of Sapkowski, it's different. It was just a stupid move on his part. He wrote the books, he became a relatively known author in Eastern Europe, he owns the rights to the characters. His name is attached to every product based on his world.

 

[TheVileOne]

Not gonna pretend I know anything about the law of matters like this. It's mostly about the behavior for me. CDPR can go "good will gesture" way for sure and settle for some amount of money, but who knows... Mr. ******* can disagree or demand a new deal.

Now granted if that were to happen, I'd side with CDPR.

I think this is one reason one should sort of praise Eastman and Laird for their business sense in the 1980s. They were able to maintain ownership of TMNT for years. And then after Turtles Forever, Mirage Group sold off the franchise to Paramount in 2009 for $60 million. So they probably made out pretty well from that deal.

But basically when TMNT became a hot property in the 1980s, all the licensing and deals had to go through them since they kept the property creator-owned and they didn't want to end up like their forebears in the comics industry.

 

[TheVileOne]

It's easy to be generous at someone else's expense. It's not like money just drop on CDPR because they're sitting on the franchise. They're huge part of what it became today. Of people you mentioned only Bill Finger was treated poorly. Siegel and Schuster sold the character before he became something truly special. Kirby was a celebrated creator at Marvel. In case of Sapkowski, it's different. It was just a stupid move on his part. He wrote the books, he became a relatively known author in Eastern Europe, he owns the rights to the characters. His name is attached to every product based on his world.

Kirby was celebrated, but wasn't there some dispute about getting some of the artwork and prints back? I recall DC actually gave him some type of royalty deal before he died, whereas Marvel did that. But that's based on what I read when his family was in that legal dispute with Marvel that was resolved a few years back.

Granted, not sure what type of deal he gets from book royalties, but one can imagine that the games have greatly increased sales and popularity of his books years after they were originally published.

 

[OutOfBoose]

Kirby was celebrated, but wasn't there some dispute about getting some of the artwork and prints back? I recall DC actually gave him some type of royalty deal before he died, whereas Marvel did that. But that's based on what I read when his family was in that legal dispute with Marvel that was resolved a few years back.

For a bunch of characters that Kirby created on his own, I believe. Majority of stuff and biggest characters were a collaboration and creatively controlled by Lee.

Granted, not sure what type of deal he gets from book royalties, but one can imagine that the games have greatly increased sales and popularity of his books years after they were originally published.

Well, I bought the books after I played the games. I believe a lot of people did the same. I don't think Sapkowski is a starving artist, but envy is eating him, because he isn't making millions of dollars and somewhat is in the shadow of CDPR and their success with the property.

Such an ugly situation. Thanks, Andrzej. I'm already reading posts that people refuse to buy his books and watch TV series because they feel he should be thankful towards CDPR instead of demanding more money. And CDPR is also in a tough situation, because they don't want fans to split, they don't want to look greedy, yet at the same time have full rights to defend themselves. And from what? They showed nothing but love for the franchise and worked hard to do it justice.

 

[OutOfBoose]

Also worth noting, read the letter that was sent by AS' lawyer. The last few paragraphs sound like extortion or blackmail.

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

Do you guys think we will get an offical pic once filming begins or do you think we will need to rely on spy set pics?