Disney has acquired the film rights to author Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures book series, which currently consists of 2023’s Impossible Creatures and its 2025 sequel, The Poisoned King.
According to Deadline, the studio paid a “substantial seven figures” for the adaptation rights, and has confirmed that Rundell will write the screenplays herself. Initially planned as a two-book series, Rundell has since confirmed that Impossible Creatures will be a five-book series (though for now, Disney only has the rights to create films based on the first two).
The series follows a boy named Christopher, who saves a baby griffin and discovers a group of magical islands known as Glimouria (collectively called the Archipelago). He then sets out on a quest to discover why the Archipelago’s creatures are dying.
It’s clear that Disney sees Harry Potter-levels of potential in Rundell’s work. Disney reportedly beat out both Warner Bros. and Netflix when it came to obtaining the rights to the films, and the studio didn’t shy away from comparisons to J.K. Rowling’s work in its official statement, noting that she recently became the first UK children’s author since Rowling to reach the top of the children’s book charts in both the UK and the US.
The acquisition is likely part of Disney’s overall push to win back young male viewers. With many of its recent Marvel and Star Wars offerings met with middling reviews, Disney is on the hunt for new IP to bring in more male, Gen-Z viewers, according to Variety. Now, it’s betting on Impossible Creatures.
“When I read Impossible Creatures, I knew it belonged here at Disney,” Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger said in the official statement. “I was immediately drawn into the vibrant world Katherine imagined and the possibilities of what we could do together with this story.”
As for Rundell, she couldn’t be more pleased.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to be linking arms with Disney,” she said. “It’s a privilege to be writing these screenplays and developing these first movies in the franchise together with Charles [Collier], my team at Impossible Films, and with the exceptional team at Disney. I’m especially grateful to Bob Iger, whose enthusiasm after reading the book helped set this collaboration in motion, and to Alan Bergman and David Greenbaum for being incredible partners throughout this process. Our ambition is to build Glimouria and Impossible Creatures into a spectacular series of films, so that we can entertain and inspire family audiences across the world.”
