The age of original movies based off of original screenplays has bade its farewell for now. When we’ll see it again peering over the horizon as it cheerfully smiles at its welcoming home is unknown, but when that day does come, we’ll be ready. For now, we can all happily go to the theaters and expect to be bombarded with movies based off of books, video games, TV, and even movies based off of other movies.

Hey, it works! Just because a money-making original movie is somewhat rare today, doesn’t mean you should look down upon ones that are based off of some other form of media. For the most part, they end up being spectacular and fully imagined from the ground up. Let’s face it, some of these would work wonders as a movie and whenever one of them explodes in popularity, a movie is surely waiting in the wings.

Let’s explore some TV shows that have the potential to be a blockbuster hit. From the small screen to the big screen, which TV shows would actually be worth putting time into – for one reason or another?

5. Homeland

What: Homeland is an award-winning drama/thriller series airing on Showtime. It has completed one full season and the second will premiere on September 30, 2012. It stars Claire Danes as Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer Carrie Mathison and Damian Lewis as Nicholas Brody, a U.S. Marine who was rescued after eight years of being held captive as a prisoner of war by Al-Qaeda. Mathison receives information that an American prisoner of war has been turned and she immediately believes it to be Brody, who the government has made into the poster boy on the war against terrorism. Without any solid proof and knowing no one would believe her suspicions, she desperately searches for evidence of Brody’s perceived treason on her own. Is he a threat to national security or just a man trying to get his life back together?

Why: For those who watched this mind-blowingly-epic drama, you know exactly why. For those who didn’t, let me educate you. Season one could have easily been a movie on its own. Sure, no one wants to sit through a 12 hour movie, but with some major editing and the possibility of sequels, this could have worked. The entire time I was watching this show, I couldn’t help to wonder what it would be like to be surrounded by the suspense of it all.

Danes, Lewis, and really the entire cast are extremely captivating and quite mesmerizing when the more dramatic scenes take place. The thing with TV shows is that they’re made with the intention of lasting more than one season, which in turn would make a horrible movie. Homeland on the other hand could have ended with the first season. It would have been quite perfect if that was indeed the case, but as the show got renewed for a second season, the finale was obviously “tweaked” to add more mystery. I’m not sure whether a second season could actually work because viewers might eventually get tired of this game of a story. That is why it would have worked better as a one time movie that would blow everyone’s socks off.

Alas it is a TV show, one with infinite potential to be a film that is.

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