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Isn't "Abarat" dead at Disney?

post #1 of 22
9/24/02 at 12:15pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah, no one wants to say this with the big hitting right now, but I thought this project was pretty much toast as of over a year ago. I could be wrong, but I thought it hit a couple of big snags when an exec or someone over there moved on and "Abarat" went into limbo.

Has anyone heard a quote not from Barker's/Harper Collins' camp on this, but Disney's camp?
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post #2 of 22
9/24/02 at 12:27pm
Jesus, I never heard this in any way, shape or form. Looks like some research neeeds to be done...
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post #3 of 22
9/24/02 at 12:28pm
Yeah, good point. You'd think with the book release, and all the grand announcements about how Abarat was being developed as a huge publishing/movie behemoth, we'd have heard something by now. Even if it's just a press release confirming it's on the slate.
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post #4 of 22
9/24/02 at 12:50pm
Thief of Always was set up there eons ago wasn't it ?

Maybe it's those sour grapes that are clogging the communication-waste disposal.

God knows our kids need educating from the like of Mr Clive. Anything to get a little abject culture into their heads...
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post #5 of 22
9/24/02 at 12:52pm
Thief Of Always was going to be an animated project from Universal, I think. That would still kick ass, if it ever got made. Or maybe a stop-motion version by Henry Selick.
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post #6 of 22
9/24/02 at 1:03pm
Thread Starter 
"Thief of Always" died at Universal, unfortunately. It was all set to go at one point, actually, after Ed Solomon did a re-write. I used to know what happened to it, but I'd have to go through my old notes to jog my memory.
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post #7 of 22
9/24/02 at 1:10pm
I remember seeing all Clive's kick ass sketches on a documentary for the british South Bank Show about 10 years ago...*sniff* what might have been...
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post #8 of 22
9/24/02 at 1:13pm
The very idea of a Clive Barker kids movie is cool in ways science cannot even begin to measure.
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post #9 of 22
9/24/02 at 2:12pm
There is nothing I wouldn't do to see an animated version of The Theif of Always. Love, love, love that book.

And I'm psyched for Abarat.
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post #10 of 22
9/24/02 at 3:14pm
I hope Abarat eats Harry Potter alive
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post #11 of 22
9/25/02 at 10:29am
I read that it was Katzenburg who made the deal with Barker. He got fired from Disney and Barker said it was sad because he had a good working relationship with him but that was the nature of the business and things were going smoothly with the new guy. That is the last I heard about what Disney was doing. With Harry Potter being so huge, I would think they would be eager to do an Abarat movie. One more week till Abarat! I'll always have the books no matter what Disney does. I would love to see a big budget Barker project though.
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post #12 of 22
9/25/02 at 11:26am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
davidtoy:
I read that it was Katzenburg who made the deal with Barker. He got fired from Disney and Barker said it was sad because he had a good working relationship with him but that was the nature of the business and things were going smoothly with the new guy. That is the last I heard about what Disney was doing. With Harry Potter being so huge, I would think they would be eager to do an Abarat movie. One more week till Abarat! I'll always have the books no matter what Disney does. I would love to see a big budget Barker project though.
Not sure where you heard this, but Jeff Katzenberg had already been at DreamWorks for two years by the time this deal happened with Clive at Disney (in April of 2000). Clive had a whole series of execs from every studio come to his house and look at the series of Abarat paintings (Bill Mechanic among them) and Disney sent a phalanx of about 16 people that then grilled Barker for hours about the books.
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post #13 of 22
9/25/02 at 11:58am
You know, David, you could also try and <a href="http://www.creature-corner.com/contests/abarat.php3" target="_blank">get one for free...</a>

I stil haven't heard back from anyone I contacted about this, but as soon as I do I'll post it.
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post #14 of 22
9/25/02 at 11:59am
Whoops! I thought I read that in The Dark Fantastic. My brain must have mixed up two stories.
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post #15 of 22
9/25/02 at 12:01pm
Hey Johnny. Thanks, but I already won a free hardcover of Abarat at another web site. I don't want to be greedy!
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post #16 of 22
9/25/02 at 12:09pm
WHAT??? What other website? You LIE!
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post #17 of 22
9/25/02 at 12:36pm
There are no other websites.
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post #18 of 22
10/13/02 at 9:29pm
Just got this update via the great kids at Revelations, from the New York Times:

At this point, the Disney team hasn't done much work on the ''Abarat'' project beyond dispatching designers to come up with the distinctive, palindromic Abarat logo that adorns the book jacket, knowing that they might have to live with it on the movies, rides and merchandise yet to come. (Cotler says HarperCollins liked the design and welcomed the assistance.) The studio is waiting for the delivery of Barker's second ''Abarat'' book before commissioning a screenplay. But Thomas Schumacher, president of animation at Walt Disney, is tantalized by the possibilities. ''I have a vision for what can be on the screen in the future that can't be on the screen today,'' he says, ''things we have built at Disney that people don't know about yet and will be startling. It will be fun to do these characters, like the guy with the heads on his antlers, with puppetry and animatronics and computer animation and styles of paintings."

Sounds pretty damn promising to me!
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post #19 of 22
10/13/02 at 9:50pm
I think the project is still alive - heck, read this:

Quote:
(9/25/02)Disney and Clive Barker... who would have put those two together before? Last year Disney and Clive Barker signed an estimated $8 million dollar deal for a series of four non-horror fantasy books he will complete over the next 5-6 years called the Abarat Quartet. The early pitch described it as a mix of Harry Potter meets the Wizard of Oz inspired by the C.S. Lewis Narnia novels as well as Cirque du Soleil. Interviews with Clive claim that the property will be expanded into all realms of Entertainment: Movies, TV Shows, Games, and yes... even Theme Park Rides! Barker himself claimed in one interview last year, “At Disneyworld, there's going to be a place called Clive Barker's Abarat, and they've actually got an island all mapped out”. The island he is referring to, I believe, is one of the fictional islands in the story. The alternate dimensional world he is creating consists of 24 islands, each with its own culture, theme, and local population. The waiting is over and the first book of the Abarat Quartet is now available. - Screamscape
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post #20 of 22
10/14/02 at 10:46am
Did people know that Saint Sinner was to be appearing on Sci-Fi Channel on Sat. Oct 26? This is according to clivebarker.com. I have had it set to record for a while now on my vcr.
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post #21 of 22
10/14/02 at 11:17am
Um...yeah, that was fairly common knowledge, I thought. Read Ryan's review of it <a href="http://www.creature-corner.com/reviews/saintsinner.php3" target="_blank">here, </a>it sounds like it may be somewhat good if not a bit cheesy.
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post #22 of 22
10/14/02 at 12:08pm
I believe the deal at Disney is still on. I read where it wasn't scheduled until 2005 so I think they are taking a go slow approach. I picked up a promotional Abarat map at a book store that had a trip to Disney world deal on. So they are promoting it some what.
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