I really don't think it's going to be as bad as people say...as long as it doesn't surpass the Harry Potter movies in crappiness, I'm fine. But if the next movie is to be better and more accurate, Fox should let Walden Media sign on for the project. They did Narnia and Because of Winn-Dixie, and both those movies were mostly accurate to the books. I'm confused as to why Walden didn't want to do this movie...they DO have a contract to make kids/teens movies based off books w/ Fox (they had this contract for Winn-Dixie). Besides, I think, if Eragon is really deviating from the book, that it wouldn't have if Walden had been part of the project. The company tends to respect the original storylines. And I think people need to lend a little leeway to director Stefan Fangmeier--it was his first time as a director; he's really more of a special-effects guy (he worked on se for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events). I'm sure after the experience w/ this movie, he'll know more about directing the next one. By the time they get to the 3rd movie, in comparison, it should be much better than the 1st (hopefully). And hopefully Paolini will get himself involved in the next film! After all, it's his story! If I wrote a book, I'd insist to be involved in the project, or else I wouldn't sell the rights. That's why Garth Nix is so wary of his books being made into movies...he's afraid the moviemakers will mess them up and take advantage of having some ownership of the books. Writers always have to be careful of that stuff...I hope Paolini learns that quickly enough. Besides, working on the screenplay or something would be a good experience for him and boost his career even more.
But if Fangmeier drops out of the Inheritance project, Fox would have to pick a very good director to carry it on and not mess up any further. George Lucas, I think, would be excellent. As would Peter Jackson, Robert Zemickis, Chris Columbus, and Andrew Adamson. Maybe even Steven Speilberg...?? Adamson can't, though, b/c he's doing Narnia, and Speilberg has his own company, and Zemickis is kinda obsessed w/ animation, so he might forget the storyline...well, they are good directors though; they were just suggestions. Perhaps Catherine Harwicke?? Far-fetched, but she has a way w/ portraying the lives of young people. Perhaps she could bring an interesting perspective to Eragon's story...
Oh, who knows. It's just wishful thinking, anyway. But Paolini should at least be a consultant for the Eldest film, which I'm pretty sure they're going to make, seeing as Eragon is #2 on the charts (USA) behind The Pursuit of Happyness.