07/04/2009

British director Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Four Weddings and a Funeral) has been signed as the director for Brilliant Films’ Box of Delights, based on John Masefield’s 1935 children’s fantasy novel.

Screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce (A Cock and Bull Story, Millions [+see also:
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Sarah Radclyffe, Courtney Pledger, and Esther Douglas will produce, while Joe Abrams and Rory Gilmartin from Brilliant Films will executive produce with Newell. Abrams said, “We are thrilled to have Mike and Frank working together on this project. Both are truly exceptional talents. And John Masefield's original story is one of those timeless flights of fantasy, playing as well to children today as it did on its original release.”

Box of Delights was also adapted for BBC Radio in the late 1940s as part of the Children’s Hour programme and holds a special place in the 1942-born Newell’s memory. He said, “I first heard Box of Delights as a radio play on the BBC when I was a boy. I was immediately seduced by the tingling, opening harp music and the fantastical, mysterious, magic story that followed. I want to recreate, for today's much savvier children (and their parents), my childhood feelings of excitement, wonder and terror.”