The hunt for new young adult-aimed fiction to turn into movies doesn’t seem to be slowing down much, despite the dominance of other genres at the moment. Fox 2000 has snapped up the rights to Mira Bartok’s planned novel** The Wonderling**, and Stephen Daldry is aboard to direct{
Bartok’s embryonic book is a fantasy set in a futuristic society modelled on Victorian England. The High Hats are the ruling class overseeing things, while the Groundlings are human-animal hybrids that live in servitude, working in giant factories in an underground zone known as City Beneath The City.
Our hero is Number 13, a shy, fox-like character who has lost an ear in the past and must escape an orphanage to go on a remarkable journey along with best pal Trinket, who is part-human and part-bird. It won’t surprise you to learn that Bartok is planning a trilogy of tomes, so if the film adaptation actually happens and is a success, we can predict four movies... You know, because of tradition, or something.
Daldry’s normally found making more down-to-earth dramas, so it would be interesting to see what he does with a fantasy tome, especially given his theatrical background. His current project is The Crown for Netflix, a series adapting Peter Morgan’s play The Audience, which chronicles the Queen’s meetings with prime ministers through the decades.