The box office success of recent film franchises including Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games have demonstrated that the popularity of young adult book series can be duplicated on the big screen. Not surprisingly, a movie adaptation of another modern fantasy best-seller, The Alchemyst, is currently in the works.
The first in author Michael Scott’s six-part fantasy saga The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, The Alchemyst centers on the series’ titular character, a real-life fourteenth-century Frenchman who has been depicted or referenced in several works of fiction (including Harry Potter). Flamel is rumored to have been an accomplished sorcerer who managed to unlock the secret of immortality. In Scott’s story, the ageless Flamel survives into the modern day, and must assist teenagers Sophie and Josh Newman in recovering a magical book before the villainous Dr. John Dee can use it to bring about an age of darkness and despair.
By all accounts, The Alchemyst has the makings of a potential cinema blockbuster. The premise sounds solid, and the story provides plenty of opportunities for big-screen spectacle, especially in this age of 3-D filmmaking. The book series has a huge fan base, with all six installments making The New York Times best seller list. Though die-hard fans of the novels may get nit-picky about a film adaptation, The Hollywood Reporter confirms that Scott has given the project his full support, and is even penning the adapted screenplay himself. This will likely ensure that the movie stays largely faithful to the author’s original vision. Respecting the source material is vital if the filmmakers hope to entice the series’ legions of devotees to the box-office. This would not only ensure considerable profits, but also demonstrate the viability of the entire franchise (see below – click for full version).
Australian studio AMCPO Films is producing The Alchemyst, and plans to start production in February 2013. Though the novel is set largely in San Francisco, the initial filming will take place throughout Australia and New Zealand. The latter country provided a truly stunning backdrop for The Lord of the Rings, as well as the upcoming prequel The Hobbit, so hopefully The Alchemyst filmmakers will take note, and use the epic scenery to craft a fantasy world of their own.
Stay tuned for further updates on The Alchemyst.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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Really sad with so many great older and BETTER book series out there, that they keep developing books from the last 10 years.
That misfortune may be due to a yearning for originality.
Mongoose, how ;#]%^+= dare you! This book totally deserves to be a movie
While reading the plot, you lost me at “must assist teenagers Sophie and Josh Newman in recovering a magical book”..
I hate fantasy/sci-fi geared toward children and teenagers.
Well not all of them are horrible. Eragon may have turned a good portion of readers off from Young Adult fantasy/sci-fi novels unfortunately, but there are still many crafty books for children and teenagers like His Dark Materials, The Graveyard Book, Un Lun Dun, Railsea, and others.
Dude, you missed the biggest one, Harry Potter.
All series are able to translate well the only time a book movie flops is when the casting goes horribly wrong look at Harry potter nobody could know how Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) would develop and how the planes and angles of his face would change but by the end of the series his face would not suit harry
Thanks for sharing…
While Harry Potter, Twilight, and Hunger Games have been great (both critically and commercially i do believe)
what about the run of not so successful young adult books that were made in movies?
Chronicles of Naria (maybe is was considered good?), Percy Jackson, and The Golden Compass come to mind.
these are all definitely good books but were not as successful as the first three mentioned….
just saying that translating young adult books into cinematic adventures isnt quite an exact science…
The reason why Percy Jackson didn’t do good was because: it strayed away from the book too much. And, word of mouth took away the die hard fans, which made it underperform.
Smelling a flop in its making
Filming in Australia doesn’t sound too good !
What’s wrong with Australia are u £u<k¡ng racist if you know anything about geography you will realise Australia is not only unique it is a great country we gained our freedom from the British empire with out war we have one of the best of not the best war casualty rates look at the Vietnam war if your an American you got a leg wound it got lobbed off if you had the same wound in the Australian army they patched you up and said you will be right mate if you read the book it makes perfect sence with the variety of locations needed by the the last book you could easily end up using every continent besides from an outsiders frame of reference (perspective) The USA is about to collapse due to bad political movements also your killing the planet with your SUV's and your hummers
Michael Scott?!
Wow worst comment ever he is a Irish author who wrote the greatest series since Harry potter
Love it.can not wait for it to come out