Shadowmancer
The Book: The Shadowmancer quartet is a Christian allegory disguised as a fantasy adventure, in which a trio of 18th Century kids team up to save the world from the dark magic of a fallen priest. Hidden agenda or no hidden agenda, a rip-roaring plot meant it topped the UK book charts for 15 weeks back in 2003.
Potter Factor: What with its proliferation of magic and wizardry, Shadowmancer has often been described as “the Christian Harry Potter .”
Dream Cast: Unknowns for the kiddies, Tom Hardy as rakish smuggler Jacob Crane and Ian McShane as Obeddiah Demurral, the big bad of the series.
Directed By: Religious film, packed with action? Sounds like a job for Mel Gibson! Or maybe not…
Radcliffe Cameo Potential: Radcliffe shows face as cabin boy on Hardy’s ship.
The Last Vampire
The Book: Christopher Pike’s gothic, seven-book series charting the five thousand year life of Sita the vampire, thought to be the last surviving member of her bloodthirsty breed.
Potter Factor: Vampires don’t play a big role in the Potter universe, although their existence is commented upon from time to time. The similarities lie more in the epic storytelling than the magical creatures themselves…
Dream Cast: Sita may be thousands of years old but her appearance is that of a young woman. We’d nominate the ethereal Saoirse Ronan for the role.
Directed By: Forget Twilight , when it comes to toothy protagonists, Interview With The Vampire is the standard to aim for. For that reason we’d nominate Neil Jordan to bring a Gothic flourish to proceedings.
Radcliffe Cameo Potential: Old Dan has “fang-bait” written all over him for this one.
White Crow
The Book: Marcus Sedgwick’s creepy page-turner sees teenager Rebecca uncovering all manner of strange secrets in the sleepy seaside town of Winterfold, including the bizarre experiments into the afterlife conducted by the terrifying Dr. Barrieux…
Potter Factor: Eerie otherwordliness mingles with adolescent, summer-holiday boredom. It’s a heady brew…
Dream Cast: Dakota Blue Richards stars as Rebecca, with Charles Dance appearing as the diabolical Barrieux.
Directed By: League Of Gentleman director Jeremy Dyson would have a ball with the rural terror on offer here.
Radcliffe Cameo Potential: Dan has a tiny role as one of the luckless subjects of Barrieux’s overreaching experiments.
Children Of The Red King
The Book: An eight-book series from children’s author Jenny Nimmo, the Children Of The Red King series follows the eponymous ancestors of an ancient king, all of whom are endowed with magical powers. Together they find themselves embroiled in a string of mysteries, usually set around the magical Bloors Academy, where their kind are educated…
Potter Factor: Bloors Academy seems somewhat familiar doesn’t it? All it needs is a Whomping Willow, and it’d be Hogwarts.
Dream Cast: We’ll need a ten-year-old scamp to play protagonist Charlie, with Colin Firth subverting his loveable persona to play the inscrutable Dr. Bloor.
Directed By: Joe Dante is a reliable bet for this sort of exciting, kiddie-friendly fare.
Radcliffe Cameo Potential: A sight gag in which Radcliffe briefly apparates in and out of Bloors, having evidently got lost en route to Hogwarts.
A Wrinkle In Time
The Book: A Wrinkle In Time is the story of Meg Murry, a teenage girl who embarks upon an adventure through time and space in order to rescue her scientist father from the evil forces that hold him captive on another planet. No pressure there then…
Potter Factor: As with Potter, Meg is more than willing to put her life on the line for the greater good. Although in her case, she still has the chance to save her father.
Dream Cast: Chloe Moretz stars as the precocious Meg, with Jeff Daniels and Christina Hendricks playing her parents. Her mother is described as a red-headed beauty you see…
Directed By: Disney already made this as a TV movie, but we’d like to see Richard Kelly put an altogether more grown-up spin on it…
Radcliffe Cameo Potential: A nightmarish appearance as The Man With The Red Eyes, mouthpiece to the bodiless entity known as It.
The Lost Years Of Merlin
The Book: T.A. Barron approaches the Merlin myth from a new angle, charting the story of the wizard’s boyhood years, beginning with him washing up on the shores of Wales with no memory of his past. Half dead, he rallies himself and determines to find out the story behind his strange and magical powers…
Potter Factor: Magic powers, shadowy past, quest to master his abilities…why Merlin and Potter could’ve been separated at birth!
Dream Cast: The Kids Are Alright star Josh Hutcherson takes on wand-waving duties as the young sorcerer.
Directed By: Edgar Wright would bring a contemporary edge to a seminal story, although Warner appear to have newcomer Ed Whitworth in place for their forthcoming adaptation.
Radcliffe Cameo Potential: Radcliffe plays an incredulous peasant, awed by one of Merlin’s magic tricks.
The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever
The Book: The first trilogy in an ongoing series of ten books, Stephen Donaldson’s sprawling fantasy saga could give Lord Of The Rings a run for its money in the bum-numbing stakes. In brief, the story follows Thomas Covenant, an embittered writer fated to become the saviour of The Land, a realm he must protect from the satanic Lord Foul. Although given the length of the saga, there’s obviously a little more to it than that…
Potter Factor: At just seven books, Rowling’s effort looks slight by comparison! That said, the elemental themes of good versus evil are present in both.
Dream Cast: Sam Rockwell stars as reluctant hero Covenant, with Christopher Lee hamming it up as the dastardly Lord Foul.
Directed By: Peter Jackson is surely the only director around with the patience to even consider this?
Radcliffe Cameo Potential: With ten books worth of characters to choose from, we’re sure they could squeeze him in somewhere.
Fablehaven
The Book: Fablehaven is the name of a secret nature preserve housing a host of mythical creatures and protecting them from the outside world. When children Kendra and Seth stumble upon Fablehaven, they soon find themselves caught up in a battle to save the sanctuary from a diabolical double-act of demon and witch…
Potter Factor: A sanctuary for magical creatures? Hagrid would be in his element.
Dream Cast: We’d like Hailee Steinfeld to play Kendra, with The Tree Of Life ’s brilliant Hunter McCracken as younger brother Seth. As for the witch, Nicole Kidman’s icy shtick would go down a treat…
Directed By: We’d like to see Guillermo Del Toro let his imagination run wild with the weird and wonderful denizens of Fablehaven.
Radcliffe Cameo Potential: A one-line role in which Radcliffe supplies the voice for a mild-mannered centaur.
The 39 Clues
The Book: A series of ten books following the exploits of the Cahill family, a prestigious clan to which almost all of the world’s greatest minds belong. Over the years the family has split into five different branches, all of whom are now striving to uncover their ancestors’ secret: 39 ingredients that make up a single compound that when possessed, renders the owner the most powerful human being on the planet.
Potter Factor: The five factions are somewhat reminiscent of the four houses at Hogwarts, from the brave Tomas clan (Gryffindor) to the cunning Lucians (Slytherin).
Dream Cast: Elle Fanning plays young protagonist Amy Cahill with Mila Kunis starring as her feisty au pair Nellie Gomez.
Directed By: Steven Spielberg snapped up the rights to this one back in 2008 and has expressed a desire to direct the first film himself. Fingers crossed…
Radcliffe Cameo Potential: Mark him down for a brief role as a famous member of the Tomas branch of the family…
The Hunger Games
The Book: Set in a dystopian future-America, Suzanne Collins’ novel sees 16-year-old Katniss selected to represent her district in a brutal, televised contest in which teenage participants fight to the death for the entertainment of the State.
Potter Factor: Whilst the plots may be very different, the success stories are similar with Collins’ novel enjoying wild success amongst the teen demographic. Of all the books on this list, this looks the most likely contender to Potter’s crown…
Dream Cast: Jennifer Lawrence looks an inspired choice as Katniss, whilst a supporting cast including Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci and Woody Harrelson has got us really excited for this one.
Directed By: Gary Ross is a slightly unexpected choice. Lets hope the end product is more Pleasantville than Seabiscuit .
Radcliffe Cameo Potential: Surely they can make room for him? Perhaps as an early casualty to one of the inter-district face-offs…
