Disney’s Graveyard Book Movie Seemingly Won’t Involve Neil Gaiman
The Sandman creator Neil Gaiman says he currently has no involvement in Disney’s film adaptation of his 2008 novel The Graveyard Book.
Unlike other adaptations of his work, Neil Gaiman said he’s not involved in Disney’s take on The Graveyard Book.
Released in 2008, The Graveyard Book was Gaiman’s supernatural take on Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. The story follows Nobody “Bod” Owens, an orphan raised by the ghosts that haunt a local cemetery, as he encounters otherworldly creatures on his coming-of-age journey. A movie adaptation was announced in July 2022 from Walt Disney Studios with Marc Forster directing and David Magee writing the screenplay. When Gaiman was asked on his Tumblr page if he had any involvement in the project, he replied, “You know everything I know. And no, no control or say. Fingers crossed that if they make it, it’s good.”
Currently, Gaiman has his hands full shepherding many of his works to television, first among them being Prime Video’s Good Omens. Based on the 1990 novel by Gaiman and the late Sir Terry Pratchett, the story follows an angel and a demon who form an unlikely friendship over the centuries and decide that they love the Earth too much to let Armageddon destroy it. After the first season was released in 2020, Prime Video greenlit another which will be based on unused ideas Gaiman and Pratchett had for a sequel. Season 2 is set to air in 2023.
The Sandman Lands a Season 2 on Netflix
Another of Gaiman’s projects is Netflix’s The Sandman, based on the long-running Vertigo comic series. After a well-received first season, the streaming giant commissioned a second season, which may end up being released in batches, similar to the strategy the platform employed with Season 4 of Stranger Things. In addition, there have been discussions of a spin-off starring Jenna Coleman as occult detective Johanna Constantine, with both Gaiman and executive producer Allan Heinberg expressing their support for the idea.
Gaiman is also developing a television series based on Anansi Boys, also for Prime Video. Released in 2005, the novel is a pseudo-spinoff of Gaiman’s American Gods and follows Londoner “Fat Charlie” Nancy who discovers his divine heritage as the son of the Akan trickster god Anansi and the existence of his con artist twin brother Spider. The series will star Malachi Kirby as both brothers, Delroy Lindo as Anansi and Whoopi Goldberg as one of many African gods with a grudge against the trickster. Principal photography for Anansi Boys wrapped in June 2022.
The Graveyard Book doesn’t have a release date yet.
Source: Tumblr