China’s Alibaba Pictures Group has signed Harry Potter producer David Heyman to produce Warriors, a live-action film based on the hit series of children and young adult novels following four clans of warring feral cats. Heyman’s role in the production was announced at an event in Beijing at the British Embassy held Sunday (Saturday on the other side of the International Date Line.)
Written by Erin Hunter, a pseudonym for writing team Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry and Victoria Holmes, the Warriors novel franchise has sold 30 million copies worldwide and has been licensed in 35 languages since it debuted in 2003. Six series have been published so far, with each series set to contain six novels once completed. Nine spinoffs have also been produces along with a Manga series in English. Publisher HarperCollins is set to publish eight further books in the next three years. Alibaba acquired the rights to Warriors in October.
Along with the Harry Potter series, Heyman has produced Gravity, directed by Alfonso Cuaron, Paddington, The Light Between Oceans, and the Harry Potter spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Deadline sister publication Variety first reported the news.
