Kenneth Branagh scored a big hit earlier this year with Cinderella, and while back in June we reported that he had signed on to adapt Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, it now looks like he’s turning his attention to YA-fare.
According to Variety and The Tracking Board, Branagh has signed on to direct an adaptation of the YA novel Artemis Fowl with playwright Conor McPherson writing the script. Per the official description [via Amazon]:
Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is a millionaire, a genius-and, above all, a criminal mastermind. But even Artemis doesn’t know what he’s taken on when he kidnaps a fairy, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit. These aren’t the fairies of bedtime stories; these fairies are armed and dangerous.
Artemis thinks he has them right where he wants them but then they stop playing by the rules.
After more than a decade stuck in development hell, “Artemis Fowl” now has a confirmed release date: August 9, 2019. That’s sure to come as good news to the sci-fi/fantasy series’ many fans, who number in the tens of millions. Here’s everything you need to know about the long-gestating adaptation of Eoin Colfer’s books:
It’s been described as “‘Die Hard’ with fairies.”
Kenneth Branagh is directing it…
…and Judi Dench might star.
It’s based on the first two books in the franchise.
Do they think the first book is not enough material for a 3-act film? Or is it because Artemis Fowl is less of a sympathetic protagonist in that one? The second book has distinct antagonists and a whole plot of its own that I don't see meshing well with the themes of the first book. Mixing the two books together into a single film might not work because they have a lot of different elements and character dynamics going on.
Read the books when I was younger, and it was silly then.
This probably won't be very good. I'd love for Branagh to prove me wrong, but given his recent efforts, I think it'll be throwaway fun at the very best.
