EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. Pictures has acquired rights to adapt Chris Colfer‘s multi-million copy #1 New York Times bestselling book series The Land of Stories for film, with Academy Award nominee Phil Johnston (Ralph Breaks the Internet) attached to write the live-action adaptation.
Emma Watts brought the property to the studio and will produce alongside Colfer, with Rob Weisbach exec producing.
In The Land of Stories, twins Alex and Conner Bailey, fresh from the tragic loss of their father, are transported into a magic book where the classic fairy tales come to life — magically, hilariously, and sometimes dangerously — in one connected universe. Thrust into a strange world where all the rules have changed, they come face to face with characters they’ve only read about in stories — and in their quest to return home, become empowered in thrilling, often surprising ways.
Spanning novels, picture books, chapter books, audiobooks, a treasury of newly-told classic fairy tales, and a graphic novel, the internationally bestselling series has sold more than 13 million books, in total, in 35 countries.
An actor, screenwriter and producer, as well as the author of 20 books, Colfer earned a Golden Globe, two consecutive Emmy nominations, three People’s Choice Awards, a SAG nomination, and two Teen Choice Awards for his work as Kurt Hummel in Fox’s hit musical comedy Glee from Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan, which ran for six seasons. He also wrote, produced, and starred in the film Struck by Lightning, which premiered at the Tribeca Festival. He has been named to the TIME 100, was honored with the National Coalition Against Censorship’s Free Speech Defender Award, and is repped by Rob Weisbach Creative Management and Derek Kroeger at Myman Greenspan.
Garnering an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature with Disney’s Ralph Breaks the Internet, which he co-wrote in addition to directing alongside Rich Moore, Johnston is also known for his work on projects like Wreck-It Ralph and Zootopia, among others. Most recently, he co-wrote, directed and produced The Twits, an animated feature starring Margo Martindale, Johnny Vegas, Natalie Portman and Emilia Clarke, which will premiere on Netflix later this year. He is repped by Entertainment 360, CAA and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz.
