5. Darksaber
Darksaber is a novel that takes place eight years after Return of the Jedi. It featured a character named Durga the Hutt trying to obtain the secret plans for the Death Star. Using these plans he could then have the super weapons original designer, Bevel Lemlisk, create a new weapon for him so that he could hold planets to ransom. Han and Leia, along with Luke and a few others, set out to find bevel and destroy the weapon while it is still under construction.
Why it might not make a great film: The two main foes from this particular book are not blockbuster movie villains. Durga is essentially a fatter Jabba the Hutt. Instead of taking pleasure cruises in the desert, collecting frozen pilots and dressing princesses in demeaning outfits, Durga actually wants to do some old fashion crime. While Jabba was an interesting character he was never meant to be the main villain, unfortunately the same applies to a bigger and badder version of him. Bevel on the other hand is an architect and engineer. Sure, he designs really big guns but hes not quite up to Darth Vader levels of villainy. The Darksaber super weapon he designs in the story is essentially the Death Star but without all the superfluous office space and garbage dumps. Perhaps Bevel was sick of the complaints about weaknesses in the external structure and decided that he would just go for the giant laser. The plot isnt the most imaginative either as it involves the same protagonists from the original trilogy attempting to destroy a super weapon which has the capability to destroy planets (sound familiar?).