Sarangel
<font color=red><font color=navy>Rumor has it ...<
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2000
NEW YORK (Variety) - Walt Disney Co. and Jim Henson Pictures are joining a stream of producers mining old Philip K. Dick stories for high-concept movie material.
They've optioned "King of the Elves,'' a short story that first appeared in 1953, and have attached screenwriter Wally Wolodarsky, a former writer for "The Simpsons (news - Y! TV)'' who just directed the Mouse House movie "Sorority Boys.''
The story follows a young boy, an outsider, who is approached by a group of elves one rainy night. They anoint him their king, declaring only he can lead a secret race of elves in a desperate battle against the Troll King and his minions.
And at a time when fantasy pictures are approaching such material earnestly -- "Lord of the Rings'' even veers on the lugubrious -- Wolodarsky will write a screenplay more in the spirit of "Shrek,'' poking fun at tentpole fantasy fare, and embracing the conventions of the genre at the same time.
Henson Pictures has been developing the project for several years. That has afforded them a cheaper avenue into the Philip K. Dick business. Steven Spielberg's forthcoming summer tentpole, "Minority Report'' -- and the success of Dick-derived pictures like "Total Recall'' -- has catapulted the purchase price for a Dick story to $1.85 million, according to Russell Galen, of Scovil Chichak Galen, the agency for his estate. (If "Elves'' is made, the estate gets close to $1 million).
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They've optioned "King of the Elves,'' a short story that first appeared in 1953, and have attached screenwriter Wally Wolodarsky, a former writer for "The Simpsons (news - Y! TV)'' who just directed the Mouse House movie "Sorority Boys.''
The story follows a young boy, an outsider, who is approached by a group of elves one rainy night. They anoint him their king, declaring only he can lead a secret race of elves in a desperate battle against the Troll King and his minions.
And at a time when fantasy pictures are approaching such material earnestly -- "Lord of the Rings'' even veers on the lugubrious -- Wolodarsky will write a screenplay more in the spirit of "Shrek,'' poking fun at tentpole fantasy fare, and embracing the conventions of the genre at the same time.
Henson Pictures has been developing the project for several years. That has afforded them a cheaper avenue into the Philip K. Dick business. Steven Spielberg's forthcoming summer tentpole, "Minority Report'' -- and the success of Dick-derived pictures like "Total Recall'' -- has catapulted the purchase price for a Dick story to $1.85 million, according to Russell Galen, of Scovil Chichak Galen, the agency for his estate. (If "Elves'' is made, the estate gets close to $1 million).
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