This is an interesting development. The novels would certainly adapt well as films.

BTW, there are many 'recognisable' cities (especially if you're British) and only one of them took to the air (called... Airhaven) the rest crawl along the ground on tracks... hence 'traction' cities. They don't war and barter with each other so much as eat each other... literally (all the cities have 'jaws' into which they can consume smaller cities and towns). Also not sure where the 'geological instability' bit comes from... there are different mountain ranges and stuff that are briefly mentioned as not of our era.

The only thing about adapting the novels that worries me is I feel that the strongest novels are the first and last, while in the middle two - still good reads, recommended - lag a little. Perhaps three films rather than four would work better. Also the novels have many interesting ideas that - curiously much like Avatar - are not really explored in enough detail (instead giving way to spectacle) but they are ultimately teen rather than adult novels.

But whatever, Mortal Engines, almost certainly in 3D if it's Jackson, would be beyond epic.

Well, I thought it was awesome in 3D. It really adds to the sense of space in certain scenes, such as when Woody is trapped in Sid's room. Also, the sense of speed in the chase scene at the end of Toy Story 1 is fantastic in 3D.

I personally think it improved the experience.

There is no such thing as human nature. What you define to be human nature is a psycho-social construct perpetuated by the hegemonic system and ideology of capitalism. Capitalism does not exist because people are greedy, people are greedy because capitalism exists.

I'm not going to criticise the CGI until I see an HD version, it's simply not possible to tell otherwise.

Except that's not Pixar, it's Dreamworks. Their films ain't as good but they do have more (and more progressive) female characters. (Monster Versus Aliens, too.)

Men In Black?

Star Trek IV?

Wall-E?

The Fifth Element?

Starship Troopers?

I don't think Hellboy is a great choice either, it's not really sci-fi, it's fantasy. Other than that a fairly good list.

My respect for Empire magazine was mostly lost the day they had a nude Megan Fox cover. Are you a movie magazine or a talentless airhead celebrity magazine?

My respect for Ewan McGregor has just gone up. An actor who is both unaware/does care about said talentless airhead and who is against pointless sequels? Excellent.

"One can only conclude that McGregor doesn't go to movies about giant space robots that harass teenage girls who wear ill-fitting T-shirts... The guy's really missing out."

Never seen Transformers and don't intend to see no. 2. Star Trek and T4 FTW (i.e. movies with more-than-superfluous story and character). However, I realise this is a movie blog and I'm certainly not going to get angry about what was at least an entertaining read.

Spartacus is another interesting one. The (class based) politics of
that film are actually meant to be more about the modern era. Slave
and Roman representing class hierarchies.

Similarly, Kingdom of Heaven is really about modern clashes of
religion, not medieval ones. The setting is there to engage the
audience but also to demonstrate (to a certain extent) that
historical nature of current conflicts. El Cid is a similar, if less
philosophically complex film.

In short, no, I doesn't bother me. Why? Because they're fiction
films. I expect historical documentary to be accurate but fiction is
fiction. I nevertheless has the capability to inform debates while
entertaining (i.e. the best kind of film).

FALLOUT 3!!!!

I mean come on, look at that picture...

But yeah, I would imagine it will be fairly similar.

You may have seen the DS9 ep 'Trails and Tribble-ations' (sp?) where Sisko et al travel back in time to when that original episode happened.