Book to Movie: Walt Disney, Harvey Weinstein Adapting ‘Artemis Fowl’ for Big Screen

Ever since the first book in Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl series came out, I’ve been wondering when it would be made into a movie. It’s the kind of book that you read and can really see as a movie, you know?

As it turns out, the movie rights to the books were probably bought quite a while back. Walt Disney Studios announced it’s in development on the film adaptation of “Artemis Fowl” with Harvey Weinstein (“Django Unchained”), and Variety reports Weinstein initially bought the film rights back in 2000.

“I feel as though everything is coming full circle considering Bob De Niro and Jane Rosenthal brought me this book while I was still at Miramax and within hours I told them I wanted the rights to the film,” said Weinstein. “… This is a special project for me because my children absolutely love this book. This story is for everyone and there is no one better than Disney to make a film that will excite people young and old.”

Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal will executive produce, and Michael Goldenberg (“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”) will be writing the screenplay.

According to the Walt Disney Studio press release, the movie will be based on the first two books in the series: Artemis Fowl and Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident.

Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is a millionaire, a genius – and a criminal mastermind. In the first book in the series, he takes on the fairies when he kidnaps Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit (and as you can probably guess, these fairies aren’t exactly the Tinkerbell kind of fairies!).

In the second book, Artemis must join forces with the fairies in order to save his father, who has been kidnapped by the Russian Mafiya. Normally I’d say each novel surely must deserve its own film adaptation, but given these two storylines, I can see how they might be melded smoothly into one.

Have you read any of the Artemis Fowl books? What do you think of the plans for a movie adaptation? Will Artemis Fowl and Captain Holly Short translate well to the big screen? Let us know in the comments below!