Impossible Creatures has become a publishing phenomenon on the order of Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Twilight Saga. Two of the five planned books have been published; Impossible Creatures was published in 2023, and the second installment, The Poisoned King, just debuted. Rundell just became the first UK children’s author since J.K. Rowling to simultaneously reach the No. 1 position on the children’s book charts in both the UK and the U.S. Her books so far have sold more than 4 million copies worldwide, and in 2024 she was awarded both Author of the Year and Children’s Book of the Year at The British Book Awards. Rundell signed two seven-figure publishing deals with Bloomsbury and Knopf. What she originally planned as a trilogy has become a five-novel saga, and Rundell plans to broaden the franchise with spinoffs and prequel books.

These heady numbers on a global scale made Impossible Creatures a must-have Hollywood property, with visions of youth-appeal movies, merchandise and maybe theme park attractions dancing in the heads of studios looking for new IP. The thirtysomething author, a Fellow of St Catherine’s College, Oxford and Quondam Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford, has been courted by studios and producers since she let it know that after the release of the second book, she was ready to make a deal.

I’m told the finalists were Disney, Warner Bros and Netflix, and execs from all three headed to London this summer to lay out their vision. For Disney, the driver behind the deal was David Greenbaum, President of Disney Live Action and 20th Century Studios, along with Disney Live Action president Daria Cercek and Allison Erlikhman, SVP Production, Disney Live Action, and Disney Head of Literary Affairs Clare Reeth. Along with Literary Affairs Director Emily Dayton, Reeth championed the book early. Watching keenly from afar were Disney CEO Bob Iger and Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman.

Disney came away with a deal that leaves the studio not only staked in the five-book series but also Rundell and her creative partner Charles Collier; their Impossible Films is run out of London by a team that includes Paddington 2 and Wonka producer Alexandra Derbyshire, and former Pixar CFO and Fox President of Studio Operations Simon Bax. Rundell will have a first-look deal with Disney that includes all of her current and upcoming lit properties.

You don’t see Disney going all in like this on many properties, but this comes in an effort to move the live-action menu beyond transfers of animated films – even though Lilo & Stitch so far has been the only Hollywood film to gross north of $1 billion. Greenbaum and 20^th Century Studios President Steve Asbell put this kind of work into courting Bruce Springsteen and manager Jon Landau to broker a screen rights deal for the Warren Zanes book that became the upcoming Oscar-season release Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.

Whereas Asbell is a Jersey guy who told me at the New York Film Festival premiere party he was still tingling after asking The Boss his best moment at the Asbury Park haunt The Stone Pony while they shot there, and seeing Springsteen point to the bar and say that right there, he met Patti Scialfa (she would join the E Street Band as a singer, but more importantly, she married Springsteen). Here, it was Greenbaum’s turn to bond with Rundell. After all, she was a prof at the college where Greenbaum went to grad school, earning a degree at Oxford.

So what exactly got the studio so hot and bothered?

The series takes place in the world of Gilmouria Archipelago. Christopher is a human boy who stumbles into the hidden entrance to the magical world while spending the holiday with his grandfather in the Scottish Highlands. He soon meets Mal, a girl from this hidden world of magical creatures, and together they attempt to save the creatures that are suffering from a decline in the magical force that keeps them alive and vibrant.

“When I read Impossible Creatures, I knew it belonged here at Disney,” said Iger in a statement. “I was immediately drawn into the vibrant world Katherine imagined and the possibilities of what we could do together with this story.  Written by Katherine herself, these movies are in the best of hands with our Walt Disney Studios team, and I can’t wait to see this tale brought to the screen.”

Said Disney’s Bergman and Greenbaum: “Katherine Rundell has masterfully crafted a spectacular and immersive world with Impossible Creatures and her vision is a perfect match for the Disney storytelling tradition.” We are thrilled to collaborate with Katherine and Charles to bring this epic saga to life for audiences worldwide—it’s going to be an extraordinary adventure.”

Who can know what happens to fantasy world creators when they taste the riches of franchise success – few saw the plot twist where Harry Potter author Rowling would use her notoriety to take toxic and polarizing transphobic positions – Oxford prof Rundell seems a good one to bet on. Disney is all-in with an author whose work has been hailed critically for its cracking dialogue, and she will be hands on in the architecture of what Disney hopes will be a franchise universe.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to be linking arms with Disney,” the author said in a statement. “It’s a privilege to be writing these screenplays and developing these first movies in the franchise together with Charles, my team at Impossible Films, and with the exceptional team at Disney. I’m especially grateful to Bob Iger, whose enthusiasm after reading the book helped set this collaboration in motion, and to Alan Bergman and David Greenbaum for being incredible partners throughout this process. Our ambition is to build Glimouria and Impossible Creatures into a spectacular series of films, so that we can entertain and inspire family audiences across the world.”

The deal was brokered by Collier via Chalcot Square Arts and Media Management on behalf of Rundell, directly with the Walt Disney Pictures team led by Greenbaum, Kal Walthers, Paige Olson and Bill Neuschaefer. Rundell is represented by Chalcot Square and RCW.