Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them producer David Heyman is teaming up with China’s Alibaba Pictures Group for a live-action adaptation of the YA book series Warriors, which follows the adventures of four clans of forest-dwelling cats.
“Alibaba represents quality and the best values,” said Heyman. “When I first came to China a few years ago, I sought them out. What we discovered is that Alibaba is interested in telling stories that are universally relatable. Warriors is such a perfect Chinese-British project. The values (in the books) are British. But they are also Chinese… There’s more that unites us than divides us.”
The Warriors book series contains six series, each of which will have six novels in total when complete, as well as nine spinoff books and an English-language manga series. They are written by authors Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry and Tui Sutherland and editor Victoria Holmes under the pseudonym Erin Hunter.
In addition to the Fantastic Beasts series (which will span five movies in total), Heyman is also producing a new Willy Wonka movie, which will explore the origin of Roald Dahl’s iconic character.
Originally published November 21, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
