Screenwriter Travis Adam Wright is ready to make the logical transition from Eagle Eye into the eye of the dragon. So to speak. According to The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision, the scribe has been signed to adapt Here, There Be Dragons and The Search for the Red Dragon, the first two books in James A. Owen’s young-adult fantasy series, The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica.
Although the deal is only for two installments, the book series has published four novels to date. The over-arching story follows the framework of unpublished maps and journals of several infamous “author-adventurers.”To clarify, young fictionalized versions of both J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis appear as protagonists within the series, experiencing events that will clearly inspire them in their own writing.
To bolster the daunting endeavor of producing the lavishly fantastical premise, producing company The Gotham Group has also brought on board Lord of the Rings co-producer Rick Porras, adding that indispensable genre credibility.
“James Owen has managed to create a global ‘what-if’ franchise which subsumes not just the LOTR trilogy and The Chronicles of Narnia but the entire canon of Western literature from Milton to Jules Verne,” said Porras.
In a statement given after his hiring, Wright described his admiration for the book series’ aims, calling it “the best gift any fanboy of Tolkien, Lucas, and Spielberg could receive. Here is a character-driven franchise that is both familiar and fresh, where wit and intelligence, not just rifles and regiments, win the day.”
Certainly the series, and by extension the films, seem more directly aimed at a younger audience, but the integration of fantasy heroes should hopefully broaden the appeal of the films to those who might be curious about the invocation of Tolkien’s name.
The books are published by Simon & Schuster, who plans to release seven volumes in total, with the upcoming fifth installment, The Dragon’s Apprentice, due out this fall. This should be a project to keep an eye on, for young and old.
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