Clive Barker, writer/director of Hellraiser and Lord of Illusions, and writer of Candyman, has signed a multi-million dollar deal with Disney for rights to his four new fantasy novels, currently known as The Arabat Quartet.
A spokesperson for Disney said they envisaged the work as "a combination of Harry Potter and a contemporary Wizard of Oz'". The plot concerns a girl called Candy Quackenbush who crosses through into another dimension and discovers a whole new world there. The first book will be published in 2001 but Barker's lawyer said the deal was unusual because "Disney made it withough reading any written words of the novels." The deal will mean the film can be exploited in a number of different ways, from computer games to theme-park rides. Barker's children's novel The Thief of Always is also set to be made as a completely CGI project.