ROTTEN TOMATOES: Get Ready for a Lot More Wizarding Kid Pics

Get Ready for a Lot More Wizarding Kid Pics

by Scott Weinberg | July 13, 2007

With the fifth "Harry Potter" movie now in theaters (and the final book due to hit stores real soon), the studios are looking for similar properties on which to hang their financial hopes.

And there's already a few candidates: Warner Bros. will mount a movie version of Angie Sage's "Septimus Heap" series. Variety says it "revolves around two babies switched at birth, a boy who discovers his birthright as son of a powerful wizard and a girl destined to be a princess." Gee, nothing too Potter-ish about that brief synopsis, is there?

Also, production company Relativity Media has optioned Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams' "Tunnels," which is due for publication later this year, with (at least) two more books on the way. The plot on this one goes this way: It "centers on a 14-year-old whose father disappears down a tunnel. The boy investigates, only to discover a secret world of wizards."

That's a lot of wizards. But what about the witches? Well, Walden Media just snatched up the rights to "Savvy," which is about a young, well, witch, of course. Once again Variety fills in the blanks: "Story centers on a family whose members discover, upon turning 13, that they possess supernatural powers that they'll retain for the rest of their lives, such as making it rain for days or creating furious gusts of wind. When the latest family member is about to hit 13, her life's turned upside down by a tragic accident."

So there you are. At least three more youth-oriented magical adventures to look forward to. Kinda like we all did with ... "Eragon."

Source: Variety AND Variety

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Eragon

(1-15 of 15 posts) | Reply

Bigbrother writes:
on Jul 13 2007 04:06 AM

I foresee a bunch of 2nd rate rip-offs and maybe if we're lucky one or two works of real imagination.

(Reply to this)

Detrs writes:
on Jul 13 2007 05:30 AM

Is it not possible to adopt non-magical children's literature any more?

(Reply to this)

jacog writes:
on Jul 13 2007 06:08 AM

Plaf... they screwed up Nancy Drew already. And yeah, why is it all magic? Why not Artemis Fowl or Encyclopedia Brown or somesuch thing? The latter could be a fun 50s satire.

And if I weren't so damned polite I'd bitch for an hour about what a total load of crap Eragon the movie was, and what a lame pretentious unoriginal bastard that Paolini twit is.

(Reply to this)

Razikain writes:
on Jul 13 2007 06:18 AM

As far as I'm aware they are doing an Artemis Fowl movie with a very tentative 2008 release. I think there were rumours of Johnny Knoxville having a part...

(Reply to this)

Crenshaw writes:
on Jul 13 2007 06:20 AM

Anyone else remember The Three Investigators books? Three kids who solved mysteries from their secret clubhouse hidden within a junkyard, and they had all these secret passages and such within that junkyard to their hidden camper headquarters? Man I ate those books up when I was a kid - and always wished they got turned into movies. Jupiter Jones rocked.

(Reply to this)

Detrs writes:
on Jul 13 2007 06:28 AM

In reply to this comment (#920028)
[b]That's the title![/b]
I recall reading the first two in that series. I abandoned it quickly for Redwall and the Tripods trilogy, and I've never been able to remember the title of the series.

Didn't they get in by crawling through a tunnel?

(Reply to this)

oldnoakes writes:
on Jul 13 2007 06:42 AM

I see how hollywood thinks: "If one movie about wizards/magic works why not have fifty. Nobody thought that comic book movies would take off, but we have more and more coming out a year. People cant' get enough of this stuff."

Ugh

The criteria for adapting a fantasy book into a movie should be this:

1. It should be at least a fourth grade reading level (I mean a REAL fourth grade level) Kids are reading a lot of crap nowadays and not being challenged by the books being written.

2. It should be an original concept, not the flavor of the moment.

At least I dont' have to see them, but I will have to see advertisements and stupid articles on RT

What they really should make a movie of is the Discworld series.

(Reply to this)

rgallitan writes:
on Jul 13 2007 07:41 AM

In reply to this comment (#920030)
Discworld would be cool (I hope Good Omens is coming along well). The first novelization of Myst - The Book of Atrus - would make a nice film. Unfortunately the other two are pretty awful.

Heck, if studios want a sustainable magic children's franchise, why not go for the original? Of course, it would be difficult to stomach a new Wizard of Oz since the Judy Garland musical has become so legendary, but if they managed to get through the first one without embarrassing themselves, there is a virtually infinite number of sequels to work from.

(Reply to this)

Crenshaw writes:
on Jul 13 2007 07:57 AM

In reply to this comment (#920029)
Yep! And I remember a "Red Gate Rover" that looked like a picture of a dog and you pulled a secret level on its tail or something. Anyway - awesome books. I'm old now with my own kids - I'm going to have to find and read those books to them!

OMG I just Googled the Three Investigators and one of the characters is Peter CRENSHAW. Ha! That's pretty funny. Although I got my nickname from a Mutant Chronicles character...

And tadaa - looks a movie IS in development - and coming out soon! But made in Germany (in English) so who knows if it'll get to the US:
The Three Investigators and the Secret of Skeleton Island
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0476603/

(Reply to this)

Vitamin M writes:
on Jul 13 2007 09:24 AM

In reply to this comment (#920029)
The three investigators...I remember reading those but it's not quite clear...were they just an updated Hardy boys rip off or was there anything else interesting besides the junk yard club house...which was cool.
I liked the tripod series too.

(Reply to this)

SpikesInMySkull writes:
on Jul 13 2007 10:18 AM

Jesus... they're really determined to kill this genre aren't they? I litterally felt like I was going to puke at the "The Dark is Rising" or whatever trailer that ran before Order of The Phoenix. Did we learn NOTHING from the Eragon travesty? You can't just throw anything fantasy at the screen and expect it to succeed. It's like the post Star Wars bad sci-fi/fantasy rush of the 80s all over again.... except stupider.

(Reply to this)

~*Admiral Snowstorm*~ writes:
on Jul 13 2007 11:27 AM

I'd love to a smart and well-done adaptation on the Edge Chronicles series. At least Twig's adventures, which I found to be the most interesting of the three separate storylines, and DEFINITELY Stormchaser, which is absolutely my favorite book out of all of them.

Beyond that, I'm kind of burned out on adaptations. They have a high chance of failure, these adaptations, and most of them are books best left in book form. Harry Potter is a pretty good read and ended up being pretty good cinema, but the same can't be said for all the books out there.

(Reply to this)

bookworm1994 writes:
on Jul 13 2007 03:36 PM

[b]Yes![/b]
Good, I've wanted to read Magyk for ages. It looks like it'll make a good movie.

BUT GET ON THE ROLL WITH INKHEART!

(Reply to this)

helmetinthebush writes:
on Jul 15 2007 11:14 AM

Am I the only one who thinks the great books he read as a kid would NOT make good movies?! Maybe I just didn't read the right series or something, but I sat here thinking about the books I was into and I feel I would prefer to leave them stirring in my imagination, rather than have them created into film.

(Reply to this)

Ashron writes:
on Jul 15 2007 07:41 PM

In reply to this comment (#920028)
I read all of the Three Investigators books as a kid. I actually spoke (via letters) with the widow of the copyright holder about purchasing film rights to the books, but they are currently owned by a German company that was considering turning them into a television show. Never sure what happened to it. I reread a couple of them a while back. They would need a little updating, but they are still good kid's books and would make fun movies.

(Reply to this)

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