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Mike Newell Helming Box of Delights for Brilliant Films

by Alex Billington
April 6, 2009

Former Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire director Mike Newell, who is currently finishing work on Prince of Persia, has signed on to direct an adaptation of John Masefield's children's classic "Box of Delights" for Brilliant Films. First published in 1935, the fantasy adventure novel is about a 12-year-old boy named Kay who becomes caught up in a magical world when he finds himself in possession of a time-travelling device, the box of delights, which also puts him in grave danger. "Masefield's original story is one of those timeless flights of fantasy, playing as well to children today as it did on its original release."

"I want to recreate, for today's much savvier children (and their parents), my childhood feelings of excitement, wonder and terror," Newell said about this news. I have a feeling that Brilliant Films is setting this up fairly early in hopes of it catches on as a replacement for Harry Potter, considering that franchise will see its grand finale in 2011. Newell is a good director, and can handle big budget fantasy action very well, but I'm not familiar with the story, and everything sounds too much like Stardust (which was a failure) or Harry Potter (which is an anomaly) these days. Here's to hoping this isn't another flop in the making.