Somewhere in Hollywood, a group of executives gather, brainstorming the next sequel, remake or adaptation. Wait, I mean they are brainstorming the next brilliant original cinematic idea. Well maybe, but one particular group of execs, from Time Warner Inc's (NYSE: TWX) Warner Bros., recently came up with the idea of picking up the rights to Terry Brooks' Shannara fantasy book series.

Let me give you a little background on the author and the series: Brooks had read Lord of the Rings in college and decided to write The Sword of Shannara while in law school (according to this biography). I'll be kind and say that from reading The Sword of Shannara, you can tell he is definitely a fan of the Lord of the Rings. A really big fan.

This heavy influence on Brooks likely gave Warner Bros. visions of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings box office totals dancing in their heads. But what I see is a lot closer to Eragon's box office take, should this movie ever get made.

See, this series, like Eragon, isn't Lord of the Rings -- it's not even close. To give you an idea of the flaws in the Shannara books, Warner Bros. has decided to start the series with the second book, The Elfstones of Shannara, instead of the first. No explanation was given, but as someone that has read them, I'll tell you why -- the first book is so close to a retelling of the Lord of the Rings that it wouldn't get by as its own movie. It only was made into a book in 1977 because hordes of rabid Lord of the Rings fans were looking for their next fantasy fix.

Anyway, enough of my ranting, I think you can see how I feel about this being made into a movie. What do you think? Have you ever heard of these books? Do you think the adaptation(s) will be successful for Warner Bros?