"Harry Potter" producer David Heyman will co-produce a live-action movie adaptation of the popular “Warriors” children's book series and will also be produced by Alibaba Pictures.
China’s Alibaba Pictures has bought the rights of the 36 books of the “Warriors” main series. The British book series is authored by Erin Hunter and has already sold over 30 million copies all around the world since it was first published in 2003.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film will be a collaboration between China and the U.K. because the film series will be co-produced by both Alibaba Pictures and Heyman’s Heyday Films. "The thing I love about this is that it will be an authentic collaboration between China and England," Heyman said in the Hollywood Reporter interview.
The “Warriors” movie is all about the story of four groups of wild cats. It will follow the adventure of the character Rusty who is the main protagonist, that is a domesticated cat who would later find himself exploring the “wild cat clan in the forest.”
"He's stigmatized, he's an outsider, he is not from the forest, he's lived in the comfort of a human home," Heyman described Rusty. "So, it's about him getting acclimatized into this place, earning his place in spite of great prejudice against him and ultimately rising up."
Heyman also confirmed that there would be more films coming up from this series as the story of the wild cats will be unfolded. "The interesting thing about the books is there are such a lot of narratives. And the books are still being written, so there will be as many films as long as we can keep telling interesting stories and the audience is receptive of it. We'll keep on making it," He added.
As of now, the “Warriors” movie is still looking for a screenwriter and definitely no insights about the director, casts, screenplay and the release date. Zhang Wei, president of Alibaba Pictures, has also not confirmed the budget of the film.
Recently, the “Harry Potter” spin-off “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” was a great success. Thus this “Warriors” should definitely shoe in a good screenplay in the future.
