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Wikipedia lists screen adaptations of just one novel and three short stories by prolific Golden Age SF and fantasy writer Fritz Leiber.

Are there any other lesser-known adaptations of his work that are not listed there? Or have any of his works been optioned for possible movie or TV production?

Given Hollywood's newfound interest in big-budget fantasy movies and TV shows aimed at adults in the wake of the success of Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones among others, it's hard to believe that nobody is working on making a movie or TV show out of the "Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser" books, which are among the undisputed classics of the swords-and-sorcery genre.

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  • Most fantasy fans have never even heard of Leiber or Fahfrd and the Gray Mouser, so it isn't really surprising.
    – System Down
    Commented May 15, 2015 at 5:36
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    Considering the changes Hollywood always makes, you might consider this a blessing.
    – Joe L.
    Commented May 15, 2015 at 12:50
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    System Down is right. And it's as big a tragedy as Space Opera fans not having heard of Doc Smith, Star Trek fans ignorant of H Beam Piper, or Tolkien fans who wouldn't know Lord Dunsany if they tripped over him.
    – Covertwalrus
    Commented May 16, 2015 at 11:47
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    @SystemDown I don't see what one has to do with the other. Hollywood mines source material that the general public either doesn't know about or has forgotten all the time. In fact, they prefer it that way, since the rights are usually available cheap. How many people outside the die-hard West Coast SF fan community knew who Philip Dick was before Blade Runner was released, for example? Most of his novels and stories were long out of print and remained so through the '80s, until he finally became entrenched in pop culture with the box-office success of Total Recall.
    – dodgethesteamroller
    Commented May 18, 2015 at 3:20
  • It feels as though there are literally thousands of great novels out there that haven't been adapted, though, especially in science fiction! Sometimes hollywood thinks it's safer to make remakes than new stuff, sadly...
    – MicroMachine
    Commented Dec 4, 2016 at 4:59

2 Answers 2

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Per Wikipedia (edited for brevity)

Screen adaptations:

Conjure Wife has been made into feature films three times under other titles:

Weird Woman (1944) starring Lon Chaney, Jr.. One of six Inner Sanctum mystery films made by Universal Studios based upon the old Inner Sanctum radio series. Conjure Wife was also adapted for the 1960 TV series Moment of Fear (episode title "The Accomplice")

Night of the Eagle (a.k.a. Burn, Witch, Burn!) (1962) (screenplay by Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson and George Baxt, directed by Sidney Hayers, produced by Albert Fennell)

Witches' Brew (a.k.a. Which Witch is Which?) (1980) Directed by Richard Shore and starring Teri Garr and Richard Benjamin.

A new film adaptation of Conjure Wife was announced in 2008, to be filmed by US director Billy Ray. It is slated to be a United Artists/Studio Canal co-production.

"The Girl With the Hungry Eyes" was filmed under that title by Kastenbaum Films in 1995.

Two Leiber stories were filmed for TV for Rod Serling's Night Gallery. These were "The Girl with the Hungry Eyes" (1970) (adapted by Robert M. Young and directed by John Badham); and "The Dead Man" (adapted and directed by Douglas Heyes).

IMDB lists two upcoming productions;

  • Mariana (evidently some kind of student short-film that never made it onto TV)

  • Game for Motel Room (a low budget TV movie that's still hunting for a distributor).

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    Reluctantly marking this correct, although I had hoped for information beyond that available on Wikipedia and IMDB.
    – dodgethesteamroller
    Commented Sep 29, 2015 at 18:51
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Then there is this, a stop-motion rendition of Mariana:

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    Welcome to SciFi.SE! The question is about movie or TV adaptations, I don't think a fan-film on YouTube qualifies.
    – F1Krazy
    Commented Jan 3, 2021 at 9:21
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    @F1Krazy I'm not sure if we can assume that. The OP asked for "lesser-known adaptations of his work", and the question doesn't specify that they're only looking for professional money-making adaptations.
    – Rand al'Thor ♦
    Commented Jan 3, 2021 at 10:28

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