Ben Lawson"The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones," the 2013 film adaptation of yet another young adult book, was a severe box-office disappointment. But it's getting a second chance on TV.
The series centers around Clary Fray, who discovers she's the descendent of a long line of warriors who protect the world from demons. Plus, there's some teen romance.
"You have an incredible gift, and we need you. I need you."
Never heard that one before. (Video via Sony Pictures / "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones")
The film tried to ride on the popularity of other young adult book adaptations like "The Hunger Games" and "The Twilight Saga." But it just wasn't able to hop on the bandwagon.
"I've made a bad habit of underestimating you."
The film grossed just $31 million domestically at the box office last summer, earning only half its $60 million budget. But it's reportedly doing much better on DVD.
And production house Constantin Film isn't ready to give up on its project just yet. The company is now planning to bring "Mortal Instruments" back as a TV series.
An exec for the Germany-based company told The Hollywood Reporter: "It actually makes sense to do (the novels) as a TV series. There was so much from the book that we had to leave out of the Mortal Instruments film. In the series we'll be able to go deeper and explore this world in greater detail and depth."
This is all part of a larger effort by Constantin to expand its TV productions. It also plans to bring its "Resident Evil" franchise to the small screen sometime after the next film hits theaters in 2016.
It's kind of unusual for a failing movie franchise to find new life on television. It usually goes the other way around.
"This is going to get pretty interesting."
"Define interesting."
"Oh, god. Oh, god. We're all gonna die?" (Video via Universal Pictures / "Serenity")
Cult favorite "Firefly" was infamously canceled after one season, but it managed to get enough hype for a big-budget movie to conclude the series.
But "Mortal Instruments" author Cassandra Clare has certainly provided enough source material to carry a TV show. There are six books in the series plus several prequels and spinoffs.
But the film wasn't just a financial let-down. It was a critical disappointment as well.
A writer for Screenrant said, "There is just no denying that the story and the movie are both sub-par, forgettable – and worst of all, crushingly boring by the end."
So a TV adaptation faces the challenge of fixing the whole host of problems that plagued the film, in addition to finding a network interested in picking up the series.
The CW seems like the obvious option. With shows like "The 100" and "The Flash," it's already pretty saturated with fantasy shows centering around good-looking young people.
But who knows? With streaming sites like Netflix and Amazon Prime amping up original content, there are way more outlets for a new series than there were just a few years ago.
This video includes an image from Getty Images.
