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| Simon Farnaby is attached to the Magic Faraway Tree project Photo: Studiocanal |
Studiocanal has announced it is in development with Neal Street Productions on Enid Blyton’s children's classic Magic Faraway Tree. Paddington 2 screenwriter Simon Farnaby is attached to script the adaptation. Pippa Harris and Nicolas Brown from Neal Street Productions will produce.
It is the latest film by the studio aiming for the family franchise market, following their success with Paddington and its sequel and marks the first time that Blyton's books about a group of children's adventures in a tree which leads to magic lands have been adapted for the big screen.
Neal Street Productions has optioned all four books in the Blyton series - The Enchanted Wood, The Magic Faraway Tree, The Folk Of The Faraway Tree and Up The Faraway Tree - from Hachette Children’s Group, brand owners of Enid Blyton Entertainment.
Farnaby said: "The Magic Faraway Tree books are a firework display of the imagination. The pages are lit up with wonderful characters, humour, peril and adventure. Most homes have a well worn jam-fingerprinted volume somewhere on their shelves. I’m very much looking forward to bringing the likes of the Old Saucepan Man and Dame Washalot to the big screen for fans both old and new."
Studiocanal CEO Danny Perkins added: "Enid Blyton's work is timeless. Like many, I have loved her writing since childhood and it's incredible to develop such an expansive project with first class partners Neal Street Productions and Simon Farnaby. Not unlike the work of Michael Bond CBE, we very much look forward to bringing enduring family classics to audiences worldwide."
Hilary Murray Hill, CEO at Hachette Children’s Group, said: “With the Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton created an incredible imaginative world. We can’t wait to see it realised on the big screen and couldn’t be happier to be working with STUDIOCANAL and Neal Street, whose track record with beloved childhood classics from Paddington to Charlie And The Chocolate Factory speaks for itself.”
