New Line selects INKHEART
Childrens fantasy novel is optioned by the studio
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dateline: Wednesday, February 25, 2004
By: PATRICK SAURIOL
By: News Editor
Source: Variety
New Line Cinema sent a signal that it still wants to be in the fantasy movie-making biz by annoucing that it has bought the film rights to Cornelia Funke's INKHEART trilogy of novels. The books, which are for young readers, are but one of the new wave of fantasy adventures that have captured the minds of children as well as the top perches of sales charts.
INKHEART's tale begins by introducing the reader to a young girl named Meggie. When Meggie was still a baby her father, Mo, discovered he had a very unusual power whereby when he reads a book aloud he can bring the story's characters to life. By reading the book INKHEART to the infant Meggie, Mo accidentally brought out the novel's villain, a cruel man named Capricorn, as well as mistakenly reading Meggie's mother into the book where she's remain trapped ever since. Meggie can't remember the incident today and is left to wonder why her mother left and why her father refuses to read to her.
Capricorn has chased after Mo for years, trying to capture him and discover the source of the power. Now he has hatched a plan to kidnap Meggie and thereby lure Mo into his trap...
Also in development at New Line is Philip Pullman's fantasy series HIS DARK MATERIALS. A screenwriter is being sought for the INKHEART adaptation.