Neil Gaiman's best-selling children's story, The Graveyard Book, finally looks ready to hit the big screen.
Released in the fall of 2008, The Graveyard Book was a huge success for Gaiman. He has won the British Carnegie Medal and the American Newbery Medal, which recognize the best children's books of the year, as well as the annual Hugo Award for best novel from the World Science Fiction Convention.
Additionally, Chris Riddell, who illustrated the UK version of the book, was nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal (a British literary award) alongside Gaiman. It was the first time in the award's 30-year history that a book had appeared on the author and illustrator lists.
The Graveyard Book follows Nobody "Bod" Owen, a boy raised by ghosts and supernatural beings who inhabit a graveyard after his family is brutally murdered.
Growing up, Bod learns supernatural abilities, including the ability to turn invisible and the knowledge of how to enter other people's dreams and control the dream. Spread over eight chapters, each one is a short story, with each installment taking place two years after the previous chapter.
The book first hit the big screen in 2009 when Byzantine director Neil Jordan signed on to write and direct an adaptation, backed by Miramax. This did not materialize and the rights were transferred to CJ Entertainment, a company that had close ties to Harry Potter and Mrs. Doubtfire director Chris Columbus.
Again, nothing materialized on that front, and in 2012 Walt Disney Pictures acquired the rights and hired The Nightmare Before Christmas director Henry Selick to direct. Disney put the adaptation at Pixar, where it would become the company's first adapted work.
Although Gaiman and Selick successfully worked together on Coraline, Selick and Disney disagreed, and the former left the project in 2013, when Ron Howard took over. Then things really calmed down.
Now, according to Deadline (opens in a new tab), things finally seem to be moving with Marc Foster, director of World War Z and the James Bond film Quantum Of Solace, attached to make the film.
Disney retained the rights and commissioned David Magee, whose credits include the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid and Netflix's new big-budget young adult blockbuster School for Good and Evil, to write the screenplay. .
Gaiman enjoys a rich vein of form when it comes to bringing his work to the screen. First, Netflix will release the long-awaited adaptation of The Sandman on August 5, a show with an even more convoluted development history than The Graveyard Book. On top of that, the writer is overseeing the second season of Prime Video's Good Omens, which is filming right now, with Michael Sheen and David Tennant returning to reprise their roles.
Also for Prime Video, Gaiman's 2005 novel Anansi Boys is being adapted. The cast of this series, which follows the two sons of the African spider god Anansi, will see Small Ax star Malachi Kirby and Delroy Lindo of The Good Fight lead the way, while Lenny Henry worked on the adaptation alongside Gayman.
Unfortunately, Gaiman's 2013 novel The Ocean At The End Of The Lane, while a best-selling work, remains stuck in development hell after director Joe Wright left the adaptation in 2019.
Still, it seems the famed author has had enough to go on.
Analysis: About time...
Neil Gaiman's gift for mixing the macabre with the wonderful is unparalleled and The Graveyard Book might be the best example. It deserves to be a movie.
However, Forster's record is spotty. Quantum Of Solace was a real ebb for Daniel Craig and the end point of the 007 franchise and the production of World War Z was a disaster, but it's on form with kid-focused movies like 2004's Finding Neverland, which was nominated for seven awards. Oscar, and his 2018 version of Christopher Robin for Disney.
Gaiman's Adventures also has a decent track record. Princess Bride Stardust style game is super fun and spooky family adventure. Coraline is a total classic and Good Omens was an original and clever adaptation that retained the wacky spirit of the book.
Hopefully this time, Forster can finally get The Graveyard Book out of development hell.
The Sandman, the next Gaiman adaptation, has an even longer history in development hell than The Graveyard Book. Read about it here.