Disney Pays Seven Figures for Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures and Hires Her to Write the Films — Is This the Next Harry Potter?
Disney has bought the film rights to Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures series, paying a significant sum and bringing the author on board to write the screenplays.
Disney buys film rights
According to Deadline, Disney acquired the film rights and paid a “substantial seven figures” for the adaptation. Moreover, the studio confirmed that Katherine Rundell will write the screenplays herself.
Books and what Disney actually owns
The series currently includes Impossible Creatures (2023) and its 2025 sequel, The Poisoned King. Initially planned as a two-book story, Rundell has since said the series will expand to five books. However, Disney’s deal covers films based on the first two books only, for now.
Story basics
The plot follows a boy named Christopher who saves a baby griffin and finds a group of magical islands called Glimouria, or the Archipelago. Then, he sets out to learn why the Archipelago’s creatures are dying.
Why Disney paid up
Disney reportedly outbid Warner Bros. and Netflix to secure the rights. The company framed the acquisition as a chance to build a major family franchise, noting Katherine Rundell’s chart success — the first UK children’s author since J.K. Rowling to top both the UK and US children’s book charts — in its official statement.
In addition, industry coverage suggests Disney sees the property as a way to reach younger male viewers, especially after some recent Marvel and Star Wars projects received mixed reviews, according to Variety. Therefore, the studio appears to be investing in new IP that could become a long-running franchise.
Direct quotes from the announcement
“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.”
“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.”
