Published Apr 12, 2026, PM EDT Sterling Ulrich is a Senior Staff Writer for CBR. He was a summa cum laude graduate of Aquinas College with a Bachelor of Arts in English with a Literature Emphasis and a minor in History. He has in-depth academic and pop-cultural knowledge of J.
R. R. Tolkien's legendarium.
Earlier this year, Apple TV struck a deal with fantasy author Brandon Sanderson to adapt his Cosmere universe of novels, which includes series like Mistborn, The Stormlight Archives and Hoid's Travails as well as various standalone novels and short stories. Sanderson recently shared that the screenplay for the first of these projects, a Mistborn film, is over halfway complete. The progress towards these Cosmere adaptations is exciting news not just for those who enjoy Sanderson's work but for fans of the fantasy genre as a whole.
Though fantasy continues to thrive on television, the genre has struggled in the realm of cinema over the past couple of decades. It has been 23 years since the conclusion of Peter Jackson's epic The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, and no live-action fantasy films since then have come close to reaching the same level of critical or commercial success, causing the genre's presence on the big screen to dwindle. However, Apple's substantial investment in the Cosmere universe is a promising sign for the future of fantasy filmmaking.
The Lord of the Rings Set a High Bar For Fantasy Films Image via New Line Cinema Fantasy is an inherently risky genre, because executing it in live action is typically an expensive endeavor. A fantasy film needs to immerse viewers in a fictional setting, usually one based on a historical time period like the medieval era, so it cannot be filmed in modern real-world cities, nor can the characters be dressed in regular clothing. Sets and costumes need to be created from scratch to fit the unique aesthetic of the film, and for stories with inhuman characters like Elves or Dwarves, prosthetic makeup must be applied to the actors.
Fantasy films also tend to require extensive digital effects to animate magic spells, bring monsters and mythical creatures to life, or create environments that cannot be achieved practically. All of this is a costly and time-consuming process, especially when done to the extremely high level of quality displayed in The Lord of the Rings. It may be tempting to cut corners when it comes to these details, but breaking audience immersion is detrimental to a fantasy project, because the ability to lose oneself in a fictional world is part of the genre's core appeal.
Even Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which holds the record for the most expensive television series ever produced, was criticized by some viewers for the perceived cheapness of its costumes, which proves just how crucial it is to nail such elements of production. Mistborn Can Lead Fantasy Cinema Into a New Era Taking the risk on a fantasy film can be hugely rewarding, as proven by The Lord of the Rings. The trilogy earned roughly $3 billion dollars at the box office, took home 17 Academy Awards, and forever cemented itself as a part of popular culture.
However, it can also backfire spectacularly, which The Lord of the Rings distributor New Line Cinema learned the hard way. Following the monumental success of the trilogy, New Line Cinema hoped that another big-budget fantasy adaptation would do similarly well at the box office, which led to The Golden Compass in 2007. The film flopped domestically, earning just $70 million on a budget of $180 million.
It was more popular overseas, but because New Line Cinema had sold international distribution rights to help fund the project, little of that money went to the studio. The Golden Compass' disappointing performance contributed to the downfall of New Line Cinema, which was absorbed into Warner Bros. Pictures in 2008.
This was far from the only would-be The Lord of the Rings successor that failed to take off, and major studios eventually became unwilling to take a chance on the fantasy genre, especially when not connected to an existing film franchise. Apple has an opportunity to turn the genre's prospects around. Little is currently known about the upcoming Cosmere adaptations, but the few confirmed details are promising.
Apple granted Sanderson a surprising level of control over the projects, allowing him to write them, produce them, and oversee their casting. They should therefore remain faithful to the author's creative vision, which will go over well with fans of the novels. If the Mistborn film is successful on Apple TV, it could inspire a new wave of fantasy cinema, just as The Lord of the Rings did over two decades ago.