Disney to make ‘Artemis Fowl’ into a film

Disney and the Weinstein Company are to adapt the young adult fantasy book series Artemis Fowl by Irish author Eoin Colfer into a film.

The film will cover the first two books in the series, about a 12-year-old millionaire criminal mastermind, and will be adapted by Michael Goldenberg, the screenwriter of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

A release date for the yet-to-be-titled film has not been announced.

The best-selling eight-volume series by Colfer was published between 2001 and 2012 and has sold more than 21 million copies worldwide.

The film also marks a renewed partnership between Disney and Weinstein Company founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein. Disney previously owned the Weinstein brothers' company Miramax Films until 2010.

The Weinstein brothers left Miramax in 2005 after a contentious relationship with Disney and that year founded the Weinstein Company, which is best known for its low-budget, critically acclaimed films, such as Oscar-winner “The King’s Speech” in 2010.

"If you would have told me five years ago I would be producing a project with Disney I would have thought you were crazy," Harvey Weinstein said in a statement, adding that he was introduced to the "Artemis Fowl" books by actor Robert De Niro and film producer Jane Rosenthal.

“Within hours I told them (De Niro and Rosenthal) I wanted rights to the film,” Mr Weinstein said.

Agencies