Trivia / The Seeker

• Box Office Bomb: Budget, $45 million. Box office, $31,400,740.^note Up until Jem and the Holograms (2015) came along, it had the second-weakest debut of any movie ever, and holds the record for the largest theater-drop (the number of cinemas who dumped it from their lineup after the obligatory three weekends. Jem was voluntarily pulled by the studio, so it doesn't count.)
• California Doubling: Set in England, filmed in Romania.
• Cast the Expert: Viking re-enactors were hired to portray the Viking warriors.
• Cowboy Be Bop At His Computer: Despite being an adaptation of Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising saga, the title being The Seeker had the effect of evoking the TV series Legend of the Seeker, an adaptation of Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth. They are completely different franchises, but in countries where neither of them is well known, it was not rare to read that they were related in some way.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Director David L. Cunningham reportedly hated the film, citing Executive Meddling for the reason it became the trainwreck that it's remembered as.
  • In his autobiography, Christopher Eccleston referred to the film as "terrible" and called it "The Dark is Risible".
• Creator's Apathy: The screenwriter freely admits he disliked the book and stopped reading it after a few pages. The director also admitted he didn't like fantasy movies, and only read the back cover.
• Deleted Role: Jonathan Jackson originally appeared as The Walker, but he was cut from the theatrical version.
• Disowned Adaptation: Susan Cooper absolutely hates this movie, and is not shy about saying so.
• Fake American: Alexander Ludwig (Will) is Canadian.
• Fake Brit: Frances Conroy is American putting on an English accent to play Miss Greythorne.
• Follow the Leader: Obviously following the lead of Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia.
• Playing Their Own Twin: Alexander Ludwig played both Will and his twin brother Tom.
• Stillborn Franchise: This was originally planned to start another franchise for Walden Media after the success of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The movie, however, ended up getting savaged by critics and fans of the book series with Susan Cooper hating the film and demanded it to be removed from theaters (not to mention, having the worst opening for a fantasy movie upon release), so we might as well seek for a TV series adaptation.
• Technology Marches On: The only cell phones seen are flip phones, which is mentioned in the recap by The Agony Booth to make the film seem rather dated.
• Typecasting: Frances Conroy was often cast as eccentric characters like Miss Greythorne in the 2000s.
• What Could Have Been:
  • A more faithful adaptation was planned in the 90s, with Jim Henson Pictures producing. Brian Henson was a huge fan of the books and had pursued the rights for this reason. It entered Development Hell until Walden Media purchased the rights in 2005.
  • Will was supposed to arrive much earlier in the Viking sequence. In the finished film, he shows up right in the middle of the raid. He was supposed to originally show up before it happens, see the Vikings sneaking towards the village and realise what's about to happen.

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