A Myst Movie Wouldn’t be What You Think

What would you say if I told you that a Myst movie is in development that could be the next Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter?

You’d probably laugh in my face. A video game movie? Seriously? Besides, most people’s memories of Myst are of a quirky, colorful, lonely little island where puzzles were waiting to be solved. Aside from sounding vaguely like Lost, this setting is hardly exciting enough to justify a big-budget motion picture. That’s because the movie being developed is not the story of that tiny island. It’s something about ten thousand times bigger.

What most people don’t realize about the world of Myst is that it has a richly-detailed mythology, explored in six games and cataloged in three novels written by the game’s creator, Rand Miller. The Book of Atrus, The Book of Ti’Ana, and The Book of D’ni tell the incredible story of a vast underground city in a massive cave (pictured above in concept art), inhabited by a people called the D’ni, who practiced the art of Writing — i.e., creating new worlds by writing them into special books. When the underground City of D’ni is discovered by a surface dweller (a human), a tragic chain of events is triggered, leading to the mass genocide of the entire D’ni race.

If I sound like a fan… well, I am. Having played all six games and read the three novels, the rich, meticulous world of Myst and its long history ignite my imagination every bit as much as Middle Earth or Narnia. A pair of independent filmmakers, Patrick A. McIntire & Adrian Vanderbosch, understand the potential of such a movie and have been working hard since 2008 to convince a major studio to finance a film based on Myst‘s mythology.

They first managed to get the support and approval of Cyan Worlds, the company behind the Myst franchise, and have put together an extended trailer cinematic to help with their proposal to major movie studios, which I’ve embedded below. Keep in mind it’s very rough, based entirely on hand-drawn, monochromatic imagery, and it’s meant to convey a feel for the movie, a sense of scope, and emotion.

What do you think? Can you see the potential?