Lionsgate has closed a rights deal the pick up the Magic Tree House book series by Mary Pope Osborne.
The deal sets up the development of multiple live-action movies to be released by the studio’s Summit Entertainment label. Osborne will executive produce the movie adaptations based on the 54-volume Magic Tree House collection, which has sold over 130 million books worldwide in 35 languages.
Osborne’s husband, Will Osborne, and Jenny Laird have written the script for the first movie installment, based on the book Christmas in Camelot. The book series chronicles the adventures of brother and sister Jack and Annie after they discover a mysterious tree house and find a collection of books that transports them through history.
In the first movie adaptation, Jack and Annie rediscover the tree house after having outgrown it and are summoned to Camelot to be its saviors. “We’re always looking for magical worlds to expand into potential motion picture franchises, and this is an iconic property that is beloved and recognizable around the world,” Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-president Erik Feig said Thursday in a statement.
Gail Hochman of Brandt & Hochman represented Mary Pope Osborne in the rights deal, while Bonnie Stylides, senior vp business & legal affairs, negotiated the deal on behalf of Lionsgate.
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