It has been announced that Philippa Boyens, one of the co-writers for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is set to pen the upcoming ”Young Merlin” origin picture for Disney.
”Young Merlin” is an adaptation of the T. A. Barron books and will form part of the Merlin Saga. Over the years a number of studio’s and producers have made efforts to develop T. A. Barrons books into films including Miramax with Lorenzo di Bonaventura producing, Paramount with Simon Kinberg and Warner Brothers with Donald De Line producing. In 2014 Disney obtained the film rights for the books.
”Young Merlin” is an origin story which chronicles the early life of the famous wizard beginning with his boyhood in Wales and following him through his training as a young man up to his ultimate role as defender of the natural world and mentor of King Arthur. The story is set to be produced by Gil Netter who is known for being producer on films such as ”Life of Pi”, ”The Blind Side”, ”Marley and Me” and a multitude of others. So far no cast members or dates have been announced.
Philippa Boyens has spent her career working on ”The Lord of the Rings” films, beginning on ”The Fellowship of the Ring” and continuing to write right through the trilogy and ”The Hobbit” trilogy. Aside from working on Tolkien’s adaptations she has also adapted the screenplays for the 2005 ”King Kong” film and ”The Lovely Bones”. Boyens has also worked as a producer on a number of these films and as co-producer on ”District 9”.
As well as Boyens, Patrick Massett and John Zinman have also been attached to the project. Massett and Zinman are known for writing the original ”Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” film and have since worked on a number of television programmes.
Disney are currently adapting a number of their classic animations into big screen live action films, such as ”Cinderella”, and are currently working on an adaptation of ”The Sword in the Stone” with ”Game of Thrones” writer Bryan Cogman. ”Young Merlin” is set to be part of a much bigger story, and with Boyens on board as writer it is a safe bet that the storyline will be epic and dramatic.
