Needed: A new Harry Potter

And so, on the thirteenth day of the month of July, a day burdened with bad luck but magical significance, it did come to pass that two motion picture companies did seek out new heroes to go on a dangerous journey through a land called Development Hell, hoping to win the treasure that lies in the kingdom of B’ox Officia…

Okay, enough with the Tolkien talk – this is a story about Harry Potter. Well, not really Harry Potter. But since Warner Brothers has long realised that Potter is a finite franchise, it’s been buying up fantasy tomes left right and centre in an attempt to find a new path to riches.

Its latest acquisition has a definite Harry-like feel to it; given that Angie Sage’s Septimus Heap is a seven-book series (the seventh book of a seventh book series is said to be blessed with magical powers) that follows two babies switched at birth. One is a boy who realises he’s the son of a powerful mage, the other is a girl with princess duties in her future. Talk about hitting yer demographics spot on, there.

But it’s not the only company in town that’s been raiding the bookshop today. Relativity Media has also been splashing cash, buying up the rights to Tunnels. The plot finds a 14-year-old lad shocked to see his father disappear down a tunnel. When this curious teenager investigates, he discovers that – yawn now – there’s a secret world of wizards. Wizards? Really? You’d think with this many wands waving about, someone would have noticed.

Still, Relativity thinks it has a winner on its hands, even if writers Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams have only written two books so far. But they’re working on a third book and given how long the films take to produce, we’re sure they’ll have time to write more if Tunnels takes off.

Now if you’ll excuse us, we have to go write our own best-selling tome about a mystical land called Dedline, where mystical wizards known as Editars keep their minions in tow with promises of a life-giving nectar called Bir. Mmm…. Bir…