Lionsgate has picked up the rights to Magic Tree House, a very popular series of children's books written by American author Mary Pope Osborne.
The fifty-four volume
series, which has sold over 130 million copies worldwide and has been
translated into 35 languages, follows siblings Jack and Annie after they discover
a mysterious tree house containing a large collection of books that send them on
adventures throughout history.
The plan is to develop
a live-action franchise starting with Jenny Laird and Will Osborne's (Mary Pope's
husband) script based on Christmas In Camelot, the 29th book in the series. In
this story, Jack and Annie go on
a quest to save Camelot, a quest that will prove to a fraught King Arthur that
children and imagination really can make a difference.
"We’re always looking for magical worlds to expand
into potential motion picture franchises, and this is an iconic property that
is beloved and recognizable around the world," revealed Erik Feig,
Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Co-President. "The Magic Tree House books
have been cherished by generations of readers, including my own children."
The project, which Lionsgate is developing over at their
Summit Entertainment label, is not the first one based on Mary Pope's words. In
2011 Media Factory and director Hiroshi Nishikiori created an anime based on Magic
Tree House (see trailer below), and there have been multiple musicals, stage
productions, and live shows.
Magic Tree House
could be Lionsgate's next big franchise now that the Hunger Games have died
out, and Divergent is ending with two films remaining.
Source - Deadline
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