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The Haunting Of Alaizabel Cray
The Book: Thaniel Fox is a "wych-hunter" who plies his trade in a Victorian London overrun by demons known as "wych-kind". Having discovered Alaizabel Cray, a woman possessed by wych magic, Fox finds himself at odds with The Fraternity, a shadowy collective seeking to unleash the Dark Gods on an unsuspecting world. Yikes.
Potter Factor: For The Fraternity read the Death Eaters. Although to be fair, Chris Wooding’s pacey adventure is packed with fresh ideas of its own…
Dream Cast: James McAvoy plays Fox, with Anna Kendrick as stricken damsel Alaizabel. Colin Farrell takes the role of Stitch-face, a woman-targeting serial killer with his own score to settle with The Fraternity.
Directed By: David Fincher is charged with bringing Wooding’s grim and grimy fantasy to life.
Radcliffe Cameo Potential: He could play one of The Fraternity in a savvy piece of stunt casting.
Oscar Pill
The Book: Oscar Pill is the titular hero of French physician Eli Anderson’s five book series, in which a young boy discovers he has the ability to enter the human body…think Innerspace , without the submarine.
Potter Factor: The property has been snapped up by Potter producer David Heyman, with Warner Brothers having marked it out as their next big fantasy franchise.
Dream Cast: Ezra Miller is a revelation in We Need To Talk About Kevin , and this could be just the light-hearted alternative to ensure he avoids scary-teen typecasting.
Directed By: The plot is odd to say the least, with Pill journeying from body to body in order to fight off evil diseases and infections. Terry Gilliam, your ship has come in.
Radcliffe Cameo Potential: Dan lends his voice to one of the deadly bacteria Oscar finds himself up against.
The Maze Runner
The Book: James Dashner’s adolescent saga follows a boy named Thomas who awakes to find himself in a bizarre realm known as The Glade, with no memory of anything beyond his name. The Glade turns out to be a structure housing other boys, surrounded by a mysterious maze full of monsters. With The Glade’s residents desperate to find an escape from the maze, Thomas soon discovers he knows more about their environment than he first thought…
Potter Factor: There are plenty of monsters to be found, but this time our hero is entirely human. Or is he…?
Dream Cast: Having seen him burn up the screen in 3:10 To Yuma , this could be just the franchise for Logan Lerman to shine. He deserves a second shot after the flaccid Percy Jackson…
Directed By: This one already has a director, with Fox handing the keys to Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke. If that news doesn’t exactly set pulses racing, author Dashner is expected to make a significant contribution to the screenplay.
Radcliffe Cameo Potential: Radcliffe appears as one of the Runners charged with scouting an exit from the maze. Sadly he is gobbled up by a monster in the first act.
The Alchemist & The Angel
The Book: Joanne Owen’s period romp is set in 16th Century Prague where orphaned Jan joins his Uncle Gustav in quest to create a life-generating serum. When Gustav suddenly pegs it, Jan is left with a set of ancient instructions, the tricky task of resurrecting the dead and the malign attentions of his wicked aunt, who wants the serum for herself…
Potter Factor: Once again, the young protagonist is an orphan. Parents these days seem mighty fragile…
Dream Cast: A bright-eyed youngster as Jan, with kindly Ralph Fiennes as Uncle Gustav and Helena Bonham Carter as the wicked aunt.
Directed By: Tim Burton would bring the requisite blend of wonder and dread to proceedings.
Radcliffe Cameo Potential: Radcliffe appears as a corpse in one of Uncle Gustav’s early experiments.
The Spook's Apprentice
The Book: Joseph Delaney pens a supernatural tale in which 13-year-old Tom discovers an ability to detect the paranormal, on account of his status as the seventh son of a seventh son. The Spook himself is an aged ghost hunter, who teaches Tom the art of combating evil spirits…
Potter Factor: Tom might not be as magical as Harry, but his quest is every bit as wondrous as the boy wizard’s.
Dream Cast: This has already been earmarked by Fox as a film with potential to fill the post-Potter void. Set to be released under the title The Seventh Son , Jeff Bridges has signed on to play The Spook, with Sam Claflin as Tom and Julianne Moore as notorious witch Mother Malkin. Sounds good to us!
Directed By: Mongol director Sergei Bodrov is already in place to direct. Watch this space…
Radcliffe Cameo Potential: Radcliffe as a malevolent spirit? It could work.
Fear Street
The Book: This teen horror series from R.L. Stine is set in Shadyside, an East Coast town with more than its fair share of ghosts, vampires and murderers. The New Girl , the first in the series tells the story of Anna, the new girl at school who may or may not be dead…
Potter Factor: Stephen King recently named Stine’s series as a forerunner to J.K. Rowling in terms of his contribution to getting children reading.
Dream Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead sheds a few years to play Anna. The books are fairly trashy, so we reserve the right to cast a hot adult actress as a schoolgirl…
Directed By: The Orphanage ’s Juan Antonio Bayona is hired to wring some genuine scares from a potentially schlocky set-up.
Radcliffe Cameo Potential: Radcliffe appears in the background as a nerd being picked on by a gang of jocks.
The Westing Game
The Book: Ellen Raskin’s whip-smart murder mystery may have been aimed at youngsters, but it stands up perfectly well to older readers too. The premise is simple: recently deceased, self-made millionaire Sam Westing has gathered his 16 heirs at the Sunset Towers complex, paired them off, and challenged them to win an inheritance by solving his death. A death brought about by one of said heirs…
Potter Factor: There’s not much comparison, save for the fact that this would make an equally engaging big-screen adventure.
Dream Cast: We’ll have Bill Murray as Westing, with Sigourney Weaver as the manipulative Grace Wexler, Maggie Grace as her beautiful but damaged daughter and Greg Kinnear as her long-suffering husband.
Directed By: We’d like to see Wes Anderson direct this as a black comedy.
Radcliffe Cameo Potential: Dan crops up as a minor member of the staff at Sunset Towers.
Redwall
The Book: Brian Jacques’ Redwall series follows a world inhabited by all manner of woodland creatures, focusing on the peaceful residents of Redwall Abbey. However, every species has its share of wrong’uns, and the evil rodent warlord Cluny would like nothing more than to see the Abbey burned to the ground, along with all who live there.
Potter Factor: A publishing phenomenon long before Potter came along, the Redwall series was a great success in bringing the adult issues of war and peace to life for an eager young audience.
Dream Cast: We’re envisaging this as an animated feature, with Jeremy Irons supplying the voice of Cluny and David Tennant as the heroic Matthias.
Directed By: Once Spielberg has finished with Tintin , we’d love to see him turn his magic towards this epic tale.
Radcliffe Cameo Potential: With a huge cast of badgers, mice and rats to choose from, the potential for a cameo is ripe indeed.
Chaos Walking
The Book: Patrick Ness’s celebrated Chaos Walking trilogy takes place in a dystopian future in which young Todd Hewitt finds himself at odds with the oppressive mayor of his home town, who has suppressed his citizens’ knowledge of the world to the point that they are unaware of life outside the city limits…
Potter Factor: Patrick Ness has been dubbed the new J.K. Rowling, with Warner reportedly sniffing around the rights to a potential adaptation.
Dream Cast: We’d love to see Michael Sheen as slippery politician Mayor Prentiss. After all, he’s done slippery politicians before…
Directed By: Douglas Jones has proven he does a fine line in creeping paranoia in both Moon and Source Code .
Radcliffe Cameo Potential: Dan appears as a face in the crowd at a Prentiss-hosted rally.
