Mike Newell To Direct Big Screen Adaptation Of The Box Of Delights

Brilliant Films has announced that director Mike Newell (Prince of Persia, Harry Potter & The Goblet Of Fire) has committed to direct The Box Of Delights, a feature film based on the classic 1930's children's novel of the same name by John Masefield. Frank Cottrell Boyce (Millions, Hilary And Jackie) will adapt the screenplay from the original source material.
Making the announcement, Joe Abrams, President of Brilliant Films said: "We are thrilled to have Mike and Frank working together on this project. Both are truly exceptional talents. And John Masefield's original story is one of those timeless flights of fantasy, playing as well to children today as it did on its original release."
Mike Newell said: "I first heard The Box of Delights as a radio play on the BBC when I was a boy in a freezing, mostly dark-brown England where the radio sets were huge and the whole country seemed to be lit with a single 40 Watt bulb.
"It was broadcast at Christmas. I was immediately seduced by the tingling, opening harp music and the fantastical, mysterious, magic story that followed. Reading the novel 50 years later, I was inspired all over again by its richness. I want to recreate for today's much savvier children (and their parents) my childhood feelings of excitement, wonder and terror."
In The Box Of Delights, a magical old man asks twelve-year-old Kay to protect the Box Of Delights, a device with which he can travel through time. But Kay is in grave danger and when he seeks help - no-one believe him...
Brilliant Films is funding the development of the project via their own development fund. The project is the latest product of Brilliant's close working relationship with the UK's leading talent agency, Independent.
Originally published in 1935, The Box Of Delights was adapted into a TV series for the BBC in 1984. Sarah Radclyffe, Courtney Pledger and Esther Douglas are attached to produce The Box Of Delights. Brilliant Films' Joe Abrams and Rory Gilmartin will executive produce alongside Newell.
(KMcA/BMcC)