When I first saw this piece of information come across I almost ignored it. I still wish I had. For those that have been following the rumors for the last 25 years there’s probably no reason to even acknowledge this as the movie is never going to happen. The odd part is that many of us are starting to hope it won’t.

Card has admitted in the past that he’s blocked some legitimate attempts at this film because it didn’t fit the tone, story, character, etc. that he wants. That’s his prerogative as the creator. Why filmmakers keep trying to work with him is beyond me.

Yesterday, the LA Times mentioned Gavin Hood (director, X-Men Origins: Wolverine) has done a rewrite on Card’s most recent script. Maybe he’s just working on the script but it’s a safe bet he wants to direct. If Hood can make fans groan at a Wolverine movie surely he’ll be able to make fans of the Ender series publicly retch.

Am I being too negative? If so, I’m not alone. Since I didn’t ignore the news I decided to subject another fan to it and ask a friend what he thought. Despite my reluctance spread the rumor here he encouraged me. Jon had this to say (and I doubt I could say it better so why try):

We’ve been over all the stories many times. You could give it an unbiased opinion, but why waste the time. Card shouldn’t make the movie. I would love to see it, don’t get me wrong, but I think the best way to do this movie is with computer animation in the style of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. But…. the animators will have to be extremely careful, especially with the character of Bean. When we first meet Bean, he’s a toddler and if they go into flashbacks at all, he’ll be a newborn infant. We don’t need an “Ally McBeal” style dancing baby on the big screen in 3D.

If Card’s going to be so picky, he needs to take the concept and lock it away til he’s out of ideas and destitute for money. Then the standards won’t be so high.

I don’t know if Final Fantasy is the best comparison, maybe Toy Story instead, but he got the right idea. Part of Card’s complaints on previous attempts were that the studios wanted to make Ender 16 and have a love interest. That comes from little kids being unable to act and costing a ton of money to handle child labor issues. Seems animation is a good compromise. It also allows for cool effects, but they can do it without making it an “effects” movie.

All that aside, since we know it’s never happening, I’ll just go read the book again. Or, better yet, the Marvel comics version.

Agree? Disagree? We’ve got a thread for that.