Media conglomeration is running rampant these days, with books being optioned into films before they even hit the bookstore shelves. The latest lucky author is novelist James A. Owen, whose children's novel Here There Be Dragons arriving in stores next week with an initial hardcover printing of 100,000 copies, and has just been picked up by Warner Bros. as a feature film.
Well... there's a bit more to it than that, accoring to the Hollywood Reporter. Owen had apparently shopped a 2-page outline around town, only to be told by Heydey Films' Marc Rosen that he should try developing it into a book instead. Once Owen had his manuscript, he sent it back to Rosen, who at the time was sharing an office with David Goyer. Rosen and Goyer, along with officemate David Heyman, then decided to develop the book into a feature film.
Oh, and I haven't even mentioned the plot yet! Get this... the story brings together 3 strangers during World War I-era London... John, Jack, and Charles. The three become entrusted with the Imaginarium Geographica, which is an atlas of mystical lands that have existed in fables and legends, and ultimately travel to the Archipelago of Dreams (I know) where they have to fight off dark forces that threaten life as we know it, and it is eventually revealed that the trio is actually J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams, who all met in real life at Oxford and when on to write their own fairy tale gobbledy-gook.
Bold ideas for a children's book, but it sounds promising for young geeks everywhere!
Goyer said "what sets it apart is that there's a real quid pro quo between our world and their world and how events in the other world shape events our world... Also, we get to cherry-pick the best public domain legends that exist, from the Homeric myths to tales like 'The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.' In this world, each island is a different fantasy world -- it's the mother lode of all that fantasy. And we get to have fun to see how Tolkien and Lewis got their inspiration. It just seemed like a no-brainer."
Heyman, who is also currently involved in the remaining Harry Potter films, surprisingly said that "the odd thing is, I'm not a fantasy fan," adding that "what drew me was that these characters are appealing and relatable and that the adventure takes place in a wholly conceived world. This is the place where all our stories come from, and the death of imagination equates to bad things happening to our world, which is such a beautiful idea."
