Netflix already has big plans for beloved children’s books. The streaming site has previously announced an animated series based on Roald Dahl’s works. It is also developing a live-action universe for C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. But now it’s turning to a modern hit for its newest project. Spy‘s Paul Feig will direct a movie based on the bestselling kid’s novel about students training to be fairytale heroes and villains, The School for Good and Evil.
HarperCollins
Netflix has announced Paul Feig will head a film adaptation of Soman Chainani’s New York Times bestseller. David Magee (Mary Poppins Returns) and Laura Solon (Office Christmas Party) will write the screenplay. It will be based on the 2013 novel, the first in a series that will conclude later this year. The sixth and final book, The School of Good and Evil: One True King, comes to stores on June 2, 2020. If this first adaptation is a hit, more could follow.
“I’m truly excited to bring this amazing, touching, funny and empowering world that Soman created in his wonderful books to life,” said Feig in a statement. “I feel like a frog that just turned into a prince.”
Jamie Ferguson
Universal won the movie rights in 2014 after a bidding war, but the film never made it to screens.
“Best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where fairytale legacies go to school: the School for Good and Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. With her princess ambitions, Sophie knows she’ll be picked for the School for Good and join the ranks of past students like Cinderella and Snow White. Meanwhile, Agatha, with her grim aesthetic and wicked cat, seems a natural fit for the villains in the School for Evil. Yet soon the girls find their fortunes reversed: Sophie is dropped into the School for Evil, Agatha into the School for Good. But what if the mistake is the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are? Their friendship will be put to the test in this thrilling and comedic story where the only way out of a fairy tale is to live through one.”
The director isn’t the only one excited about the project. Chainani says Feig is one of his favorite directors and a perfect choice to adapt his story “Paul Feig is a brilliant filmmaker and a master of tone—a perfect fit for the twists and turns of The School of Good and Evil. I have no doubt that he will make a true fairy tale classic.”
Sounds like a fairytale come true for Chainani. And also the latest one to come true for kids with Netflix accounts.
Featured Image: HarperCollins