Disney has an Impossible Creatures movie on the way, and this project has a major advantage over HBO’s Harry Potter remake. Like the Wizarding World screen adaptations, Disney’s new fantasy film franchise will be based on a series of books. Impossible Creatures, by Katherine Rundell, has been heavily compared to Harry Potter, largely because the author’s success is so similar to J.K. Rowling’s.
The Impossible Creatures books follow a boy named Christopher who discovers the magical Gilmouria Archipelago, home to a variety of magical creatures. The first book was released in the US in 2024, with the second, The Poisoned King, arriving a year later. With over 4 million copies sold around the globe, Rundell has officially become the first UK author to top the charts in both the UK and the US since Rowling.
Given the very Harry Potter-like success of the Impossible Creatures books, it’s no surprise that Disney was so eager to purchase the film rights. This generation is all set to get its own film-series phenomenon, but Impossible Creatures will be up against HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter TV show—and that’s no small thing. Still, Disney has a significant advantage.
Impossible Creatures’ Original Author Will Write The Disney Movies’ Screenplays
The biggest challenge when adapting a book series to the screen is typically maintaining faithfulness. The massive changes made from the Harry Potter books to the movies are a significant reason why the series is being remade into a television show. Disney’s Impossible Creatures may avoid this issue entirely, since the films’ screenplays are being written by Rundell herself.
The same is not true for HBO’s Harry Potter TV show, which is being written by Francesca Gardiner and Andy Greenwald. Though HBO has promised a book-faithful adaptation this time, it would be impossible to perfectly adapt the Harry Potter novels every step of the way. A screen adaptation necessitates changes of some kind. At least with Impossible Creatures, viewers can trust that any shifts in the story or presentation are coming straight from the mind that created this world.
J.K. Rowling Is A Producer, Not Writer, For The Harry Potter TV Show
While Impossible Creatures has a leg up on HBO’s Harry Potter, it’s not as if the TV remake’s writers are on their own. Rowling is serving as a producer on the series, a role that gives her greater influence on the project than she had as a consultant on the films. This is a benefit in terms of book faithfulness, but that may be cancelled out by the controversy surrounding Rowling.
Rundell’s new fantasy franchise is fresh, optimistic, and wholly unproblematic.
It remains to be seen whether Rowling’s social views will affect the Harry Potter remake’s success. What we can more certainly predict, however, is that Impossible Creatures will be free of such conflict. Rundell’s new fantasy franchise is fresh, optimistic, and wholly unproblematic. With the author remaining at the creative wheel, this could be the answer to all our Harry Potter troubles.
- Showrunner
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Francisca Gardiner
- Directors
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Mark Mylod
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Dominic McLaughlin
Harry Potter
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Janet McTeer
Minerva McGonagall
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This story originally appeared on Screenrant
