Hannah Ellis-Petersen 

Enid Blyton’s Famous Five to get big screen adventure

UK film production company Working Title acquires theatrical rights to whole library of Famous Five series
  
  

Famous Five on the cover of Five on a Treasure Island
Famous Five on the cover of Five on a Treasure Island (1942). Photograph: Alamy Photograph: Alamy

Their adventures fighting smugglers, thieves and evil scientists, fuelled on a diet of potted meat sandwiches and lashings of ginger beer, have captivated children for over 70 years.

Now Enid Blyton's beloved Famous Five series is to be made into a film after UK production company Working Title acquired the theatrical rights to the books.

The production company confirmed it had recently snapped up the rights to the whole library of the children's series, spanning more than 20 books, and intends to launch a live action franchise based on the quaint adventures of Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the dog.

The deal was sealed with publisher Hodder, a subsidiary of Hachette, which has owned the Blyton estate since March 2012. Working Title's Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan are believed to be producing the series.

The books have previously inspired two television adaptations, the first in the 1970s and the second in the 1990s, as well as a 1957 film of Five on a Treasure Island. More recently, a 2012 German film was made of the books, called Fünf Freunde, based on the book Five on Kirrin Island Again.

Tony Summerfield, who has run the Enid Blyton Society since it was formed in 1995, celebrated the news of the Famous Five characters finally appearing on the big screen, though admitted he had some reservations about the project.

He said: "Obviously I think it's a good thing, it seems to me inevitable this would happen. It has struck me as odd they've done Famous Five films in German and none here.

"My immediate reaction would be, it depends on what book they chose to adapt I suppose. It will be interesting to see what they do, particularly to see what period they set it in. If they are suddenly going to bring it up to date, as the Germans have done where they use computers to help them along the way, I would not be so pleased. They could make a heck of a muck of it if they try and bring it into the 21st century."

Summerfield added: "Hopefully on screen the Famous Five books aren't too quaint for the modern child. I honestly can't see a film company trying to do anything like this without trying to sex it up a bit. But any publicity for Enid Blyton is good publicity, keeping her in the public eye. I marvel at how she has this enduring appeal, despite all the competition that's around. Her books are basically timeless."

Blyton, who died in 1968, is still one of the biggest selling children's authors of all time with global sales of more than 100 million books. It was estimated in 2012 that an Enid Blyton book sells every minute and the enduring popularity of the Famous Five books was re-affirmed in a World Book Day poll this year, which revealed they are still the books most favoured by parents for their children.

Earlier this month, Old Vic Productions also confirmed they had acquired stage rights and were looking to launch a Famous Five musical version. Productions director Bruce Walker said: "We are working very hard on this. We want to stay faithful to what the books represent, but we also recognise that the show must work for a contemporary audience. It's all about getting that balance."

 

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