Redwall being optioned for a major movie
Oh boy. Here we go again. Earlier this year, Working Element, a production company helmed by Darren Thomas, announced that
Redwall was in its portfolio.
On June 26, an
IMDB page for a
Redwall movie popped up with a
2014 release date. Digging a bit deeper, it is listed under "optioned" status, with the following summary attached:
Matthias, a young mouse, embarks on a quest to recover a legendary sword to save Redwall from Cluny the Scourge.
Let's turn to
Wikipedia for a moment:
In the film industry, an option is a contractual agreement between a potential film producer, such as a movie studio, a production company or an individual, and a writer or third party who holds ownership of a screenplay. The agreement details the exclusive rights, including the specified time period and financial obligations, the producer has to advance the essential elements, such as financing and/or talent, towards the creation of a film based on the screenplay.
To be more specific, when a screenplay is optioned, the producer has not actually purchased the right to use the screenplay; he has simply purchased the "exclusive right" to purchase the screenplay at some point in the future, if he is successful in setting up a deal to actually film a movie based on the screenplay.
This
does not guarantee a
Redwall movie will be made. Given the history of
Redwall Film Adaptations, let's just keep our fingers crossed, and remain hopeful of course.
Darren Thomas is primarily known for producing a video, "For My Country," and the
2013 "Stargate SG-1: Unleashed" video game.
This is his official LinkedIn bio:
As President of Working Element, Darren has worked as both a creative and strategist for the entertainment industry. Beginning in mid 2010 Darren developed and implemented a content aggregation strategy that has yielded a strong and recognizable portfolio of IPs. In addition to acquisition and content development, Darren works with three partner companies to implement funding strategies for transmedia properties. Working Element currently holds rights to 5 book series and 44 individual titles.
We've reached out to several parties for comment and hope to hear back soon.
Tue, 8 Jul 2014, 11:45 pm
A look at Redwall TV production art
Moments ago, two eBay auctions ended on some rare
Redwall TV Series production artwork. The Redwall Wiki had hoped to acquire at least one for its site library, however it was not meant to be. The opposing bidder either jumped in during the last minute or used a sniper program to win - large bids went in on both pieces with approximately 30 seconds to go for each auction, making it difficult to counter. Both auctions closed at $122.50.
The pieces of art are clearly pre-final production. The first is pencil artwork from
Season 1,
Episode 13, and consists of the finale battle sequence involving
Cluny the Scourge and
Matthias. I've included the actual scene above for comparison - you'll note Cluny's cape does not have a hole in it, for example.
The second was described as a "hand-painted background," and is also from Season 1, but from
Episode 12. This giant skull is located in the
Quarry residence of
Asmodeus.
Unfortunately, the owner of the artwork does not provide a Certificate of Authenticity with his sales, but they are certainly collectible.
At any rate, congratulations to the bidder, and if we know you, please come forward and tell us about the art!
You can find the art
after the jump
Fri, 4 Jul 2014, 2:38 am
A new Redwall cover for 2014
On June 5,
2014, Random House released a new 576-page paperback edition of
Redwall with new jacket artwork, and possibly new interior art. The book was published by the Vintage Children's Classics imprint of the publisher for the UK.
Of interest, the marketing copy for the book states that "In the Backstory [sic] you can learn to make a
Redwall Abbey pudding!" We're not sure which particular pudding, and we're also not sure if its a recipe from
The Redwall Cookbook.
Unfortunately, we can't tell you who the cover artist is, because this information is seemingly unavailable. If you can provide us with this information, please
get in touch.
Bizarrely though, previewing the Amazon UK edition of the book begins with
this piece of fan artwork. This could be a publisher error, an Amazon error, or perhaps it's not an error at all and the artist was paid.
The following summary is attached to the publication:
Welcome to Redwall Abbey. Inside its enormous doors, mice live in peace, helping those in need and throwing epic feasts for the great and the good of Mossflower Woods.
But outside a grave threat is gathering. An army of evil rats led by a vicious, one-eyed warlord, is on its way.
Matthias is just one little mouse but he knows it'll take more than stones and mouse-sized arrows to keep the rats at bay. Enlisting the help of a military hare, wild sparrows and argumentative stoats, Matthias sets out to defend his freedom, his friends, and the abbey he calls home.
Tue, 17 Jun 2014, 1:07 am
Chris Skaggs discusses Redwall game features
Chris Skaggs of Soma Games recently participated in an interview with Intel in which he discussed a bit about the upcoming
Redwall: The Warrior Reborn game.
"We're very interested in taking the RealSense™ technology, especially the new facial tracking, and being able to map a player's face right onto the character. So if you're playing a mouse or a squirrel or a mole, you'll be able to see your expressions and you'll be able to voice the lines. And it'll show up in the game on the character. So we can rig the character's face to move with your face. And we think that'll be a big play for these characters that people really love."
"RealSense™ technology" refers to Intel® RealSense™, which you can read about in more detail
here.
Soma Games also uploaded an image to their Facebook page showing what this may look like (see thumbnail).
To watch the interview in it's entirety, check it out
over at the Redwall Wiki.
Sat, 5 Apr 2014, 11:08 pm
Release: Redwall Wiki Turns 8
Today, the Redwall Wiki officially celebrates its 8th anniversary!
While
Redwall Online Community activity has dwindled over the past few years, we're proud to be here and still serve as an active website and hub for
Redwallfans across the globe.
This year, Redwallers truly went above and beyond by donating to the Soma Games
Redwall: The Warrior Reborn Kickstarter, which achieved more financing than they were seeking.
If you haven't played
Redwall AbbeyCraft: The Corsair's Last Treasure yet, we highly recommend you do, and when the server is available for all users, be sure to look for us and say hello.
Stay tuned to the Redwall Wiki, as we'll be continuing to release special Redwall-related features, the next of which you can look for in the coming weeks.
We really do appreciate everyone's support.
Fri, 11 Oct 2013, 2:21 am
Soma Reveals Redwall Game Plans
In a video update for backers of the
Redwall: The Warrior Reborn adventure game project, Chris Skaggs of Soma Games mentioned a few details of the company's plan for the effort.
He stated that they want to have "three playable races," which could possibly include "mice, badgers, and squirrels."
The game will have "lots of exploration" and "[puzzles] will be a central aspect."
As of this writing, the Kickstarter has raised $9,281, which is a mere $1,719 away from becoming fully funded. At that time, various stretch goals for additional locations, character species, and more hours of game play will be unlocked.
If you haven't donated yet, or you just want to send more cash, the link
is right here.
Sat, 4 May 2013, 11:01 pm
Redwall Adventure Game Kickstarter Launched
Soma Games has officially launched their much-anticipated Kickstarter project for
Redwall: The Warrior Reborn, their
Redwallvideo game effort.
They hope to raise $11,000, and while the game is being developed an interactive Minecraft map will be constructed for the community.
Rewards for donations include a name check in the game's credits, an invitation to attend a launch feast featuring
Redwall cuisine, game artwork, special sculptures and more.
The company describes their "biggest goal" as "engag(ing) the kinds of fans that live and breathe Redwall."
While no new details about the game are available at this time, it would appear as if they're awaiting donor input before progressing too much.
If you're interested in sending them some money (and you should be), click
here to view the page.
As of this posting, they've already raised over $2,000
Sat, 27 Apr 2013, 4:50 pm
Redwall Adventure Game Update
Last June, we announced the debut of the
Redwall: The Adventure Game project, an officially-licensed video game that was going to feature a new contribution to the
Redwall mythology.
Unfortunately, we haven't had any real updates since that time, and their Facebook page indicated that they were facing financial challenges. As with many
Redwall-related projects in the past, it was difficult to see what was going to happen.
Until now.
Yesterday evening, Soma Games
announced their partnership with the other developers. The Oregon-based company is responsible for producing various apps and games such as
Wind Up Robots and
Bok Choy Boy, and their largest title, Stargate Gunship, is scheduled to launch in the near future.
You can see Soma Games founder Chris Skaggs discuss the making of Stargate Gunship
here.
I've recently communicated with Chris to find out what the long-term plans are for the Redwall adventure game. The company is truly interested in engaging with fans to make sure the game is done correctly and in a respectful way, and their first step will be to launch a Kickstarter to raise funds and build a community relatively soon. As with any Kickstarter, different awards and exclusives will be available for those who donate on specific levels, and a special Minecraft map will be constructed while the game is under development.
As the collaborative effort for the game has just been announced, there is still a lot of information that at this time is not available, or is still in the process of being sorted out. They hope to expand upon previous concepts, however not everything has been formalized yet. Chris describes their idea as a "progressive adventure," with an RPG and puzzles.
In the meantime, until the Kickstarter is launched, enjoy some conceptual artwork below. These people deserve our support, so let's give it to them. They are very enthused about ensuring proper treatment for
Redwall.
Fri, 12 Apr 2013, 12:55 am
Redwall Cooking - October Ale
This week, I prepared a classic
beverage for the
Redwall Cooking series: October Ale.
Now, this recipe suggests that either ginger beer (this is a non-alcoholic beverage) or ginger ale can be used, however as I'm not the biggest fan of ginger beer, and could only find it sold in 6-pack form, I personally could not justify purchasing it. I would have had 4-5 bottles sitting around that I would never end up drinking, thus I went with ginger ale.
The recipe also does not specify as to whether dark or white grape juice should be used, I chose white grape juice.
The beverage itself tastes like a sparkling grape drink, much like a sparkling apple cider. I thought the grape flavor was a bit strong, as I really envision this drink in the series to be more of a real ale, like a beer.
If you are of legal drinking age in your part of the world, it's easy to see how this could be made into more of an adult beverage with the addition of vodka.
- Ginger ale - $0.84
- Grape juice - $2.48
Bon appétit!
Sat, 16 Feb 2013, 9:18 pm
Redwall Cooking - Hotroot Soup
As it's winter time, and cold in many places of the world, I've chosen the first entry in our
Redwall Cooking series to be none other than
Hotroot Soup!
However, there is a major disclaimer here: I don't like shrimp. At all. So as a replacement ingredient, I chose chicken.
As I was cooking just for myself and the recipe serves two to four people, I halved the amounts of leeks, onion and potatoes required. Even though I did this, there was still more than enough vegetables in the dish - in fact, each bite contained more vegetables/meat than actual liquid.
I found the soup to be very tasty, although I think if you want it to be very spicy, you need to have a very heavy hand with the chili pepper. I put in slightly more than the recipe called for, and it wasn't very 'hot' at all.
In each feature, I'll reveal the cost breakdown for ingredients that I DIDN'T already have in my kitchen. If I've listed the cost of an item in one article, I won't be repeating it in another.
- White onion - $0.77
- Potatoes - $0.88/lb
- Leeks - $1.99/lb (or 1 leek for $0.16)
- Vegetable broth - $2.88
Bon appétit!
Sun, 27 Jan 2013, 9:00 pm
A New Year, A New Feature
It's a new year, and we are introducing a new feature series here at the Redwall Wiki. As this is being written,
The Redwall Cookbook is en route to our library here at HQ.
In the interest of producing more content, which as there has been very little news has been quite difficult, we will be launching a new feature series.
In the past, many Redwall home cooks have prepared dishes
inspired by the
Redwall series, some of whom who have been kind enough to share and upload the recipes and pictures.
However, we have not heard of anyone preparing every single dish in
The Redwall Cookbook for consumption and review. And it is to that end we are taking up this task just for our readers, fans, contributors, editors and followers.
Fear not, as I do enjoy both cooking and eating, neither are something I find difficult or not enjoyable.
Over the coming months, every recipe will be prepared, photographed, eaten and reviewed, and all of it will be posted here.
I'm going to be shooting for 2 recipes a month, possibly more if there is time.
Sat, 12 Jan 2013, 9:41 pm
Firebird "Rogue Crew" scheduled for publication
Amazon.com has posted some information on the forthcoming Firebird paperback for
The Rogue Crew, which is listed for publication next summer.
The price is listed at $8.99, with a page count of 400. The date to acquire this copy of the book will be
July 11, 2013.
Sat, 27 Oct 2012, 3:51 pm
Release: Redwall Wiki Turns 7
The Redwall Wiki officially marks its 7th anniversary online today, and we'll keep the announcement short and sweet.
While it appears as if there are no new
Redwall novels on the horizon any time soon, it does look like fans will receive a story in the near future in the form of a
game. Hopefully, we'll have more updates in regards to that project soon.
We've been online for almost a decade now, and it's been a great run. As long as there are fans of Redwall, we aren't going anywhere. There is still fan artwork and fan fiction to be shared.
Thanks to those who have stuck around over the years, you're what make this website what it is.
Thu, 11 Oct 2012, 12:03 am
"Redwall: The Adventure Game" debuts site
This past week, a site for a video game billing itself as
Redwall: The Adventure Game debuted at
Redwallgame.com.
Last year,
we reported that the Redwall Abbey Company was in contractual negotiations with
someone for licensing. It would appear these negotiations were fruitful, as the official
Facebook page for the game states that the
Miller Brothers (Christopher Miller and Alan Miller, best known for their
Codebearers book series) are responsible for the product. It states:
The first ever official Redwall game based on the imaginative and epic world of Brian Jacques' books.
Founded by the Miller Brothers, award-winning authors and illustrators, in partnership with Sean Rubin (official Redwall artist) and Lance Priebe (inventor and co-founder of Club Penguin), the Redwall Adventure Game hopes to set the bar high for a new generation adventure games.
Christopher Miller announced on his Twitter months ago he was working on something with illustrator Sean Rubin, this would appear to be the project.
The page also gives a synopsis of the game:
A fantasy adventure game where you control the actions of a Redwall outsider, on his quest to find theWarrior's Star, a mystical relic believed to be recovered by Martin the Warrior long ago. Called by the spirit of Martin himself, you must secretly explore abbey halls, solve ancient riddles and unlock hidden passageways without being discovered in your search of the mysterious treasure. But beware of those who seek the Star for darker purposes. The fate of Mossflower is in your hands. Lead on, brave adventurer. Your quest awaits!
Redwallgame.com is also hosting a contest to win an "exclusive in-game credit +
Redwall 20th Anniversary Box set with poster, trading cards and autographed bookplate by Brian Jacques" just for signing up on their e-mail distribution list.
The scheduled release time period is Fall
2012, with a target line of devices including Mac, PC, iPad and mobiles. This does not specify the Droid OS, though.
The most interesting thing about this is that in the past Brian Jacques himself stated that he "dislike[d]" video games and board games. The story sounds intriguing, we'll have more information for you as we learn it.
If the logo is accurate, it would appear as if the main character is a mouse; the artwork indicates that his/her profession is a carpenter.
Jared Shear is responsible for concept artwork as well.
Sat, 30 Jun 2012, 9:19 pm
Brian Jacques celebrated in the UK
I apologize that this news is a bit dated, however I was hoping for some more information to come to light. If you have more information, including images, please
contact us.Last month,
Redwallabbey.com reported that
Brian Jacques has been honored by the Lancashire County Council, an organization who hosts a 25-year-old United Kingdom "Book of the Year" award.In the past, Brian has received the award for
Redwall,
Mattimeo, and
Salamandastron, and is the only author to be recognized three times.The council is releasing a book celebrating the award over the years, and Brian Jacques will be mentioned in this book. To what extent, is unknown.The book is believed to be distributed at Lancashire high school libraries. If you live in this region, we'd love to have more information about it.
Sun, 8 Jan 2012, 8:53 pm
Redwall Wiki Expands Coverage
Given that the continuation of the
Redwall series is still up in the air, this unfortunately means that we've reached a point where there is not going to be much
Redwall or
Brian Jacques news, especially not on any sort of regular basis.Recently, we reached out to our Facebook fans to ask if they would be interested in news items related to books, the media, and the publishing industry. The majority response to this query was positive, and as a result we will be linking and promoting these types of stories - but only on our Facebook page, unless of course it's directly related to
Redwall or Brian Jacques.And don't worry, we certainly won't be flooding or spamming your feeds.
Sun, 11 Dec 2011, 2:56 am
Random House reveals Storycuts
Random House has officially announced a new type of
eBook in a series that they're referring to as "Storycuts."Essentially, short stories from larger collections are published as individual eBooks for viewing on your e-reader. Among the first of more than 250 short stories are a few from
Brian Jacques, extracted from
Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales. These include
R.S.B. Limited,
The Lies of Henry Mawdsley,
The Fate of Thomas P. Kanne,
Jamie and the Vampires and
The Sad History of Gilly Bodkin.
Allie Alma and
Bridgey are combined into one release, as
Allie/Alma/Bridgey.It appears as if these will be listed on Amazon in the future, however if you're interested in checking the eBooks out now, navigate
to the Random House website.
Sat, 19 Nov 2011, 8:04 pm
Announcing Redwall Answers
Today, we are officially announcing a supplemental service of the Redwall Wiki -
Redwall Answers!Redwall Answers is a question-and-answer type of wiki that allows anyone to make an inquiry, and if someone knows the response, anyone can respond.You can find Redwall Answers
here.Essentially, the purpose of this is to help people looking for specific
Redwall or
Castaways information without having to read an entire article.There is a very short Manual of Style/Rules guide for this service, please check it out there. If you like to help
Redwall fans, be sure to check this wiki regularly.
Sat, 12 Nov 2011, 2:41 am
Art Contest Canceled
Unfortunately, we did not meet the quota of entrants for this year's
art contest, and despite having over 60 votes for one, (why didn't you voters enter?) nowhere near that many applied for judging by their peers.The artists who did decide to enter are free to do whatever they like with their artwork, whether that means submitting it here or elsewhere.I am slightly disappointed in that regard, as well though. The challenge was to depict a battle scene, which is why I specifically noted the chapter. However, most entrants directly imitated
Chris Baker's cover - I was hoping to see some new interpretations of
Brian Jacques' text.If no one is going to enter, this may be the last time we attempt to hold a contest for a while.
Wed, 9 Nov 2011, 12:28 am
Official Redwall Wiki Art Contest 2011
Per a large majority vote held over the last week, we will officially be hosting our 3rd Annual Art Contest. However, there is an important caveat - last year we also received a lot of support for a contest, but very few entered. If a pre-determined number of entries are not received by the due date this year, the event will be canceled.And now, the details:In our last two contests, artists were asked to draw a villain, and a hero. This year, we will be combining the two for an extra challenge. Competitors should draw their interpretation of the epic battle sequence between Lord
Brocktree and
Ungatt Trunn as depicted in Chapter 36 of
Lord Brocktree.All entries
must be sent to me for initial review, and I will upload them here at the Redwall Wiki for voting. After a 2-week voting period, one winner will be announced, and the other artists will be revealed. I will be abstaining from voting and entering.Artists will have 3 weeks to create their vision and submit it. All entries must be submitted by 12 Noon EST, November 8,
2011. No exceptions will be made for any reason.At the end of the 3 week submission period, if the pre-determined number of entries (known only by myself to avoid speculation) is reached or exceeded, I will upload all entries for judging, and provide further contest information and details.
Rules
1. Eligibility: The Official Redwall Wiki Art Contest (the "Contest") is open to residents of Earth who are registered users of the Redwall Wiki. (You do not have to be registered to vote for the winner.)2. How To Enter: The Contest begins on October 18, 2011 and ends on November 8, 2011 at 12:00pm (EST) (“Entry Period”). All entries must be submitted no later than the end of the Entry Period. Only 1 contest entry per human allowed; works must be submitted in JPG or PNG file format to
along with your Redwall Wiki username. There are no file size or image size limitations.
- The subject line of the e-mail must read "Redwall Wiki 2011 Art Contest".
- Failure to include your Redwall Wiki username, e-mail subject, and proper file format will be grounds for disqualification. You may only submit all of this information once.
- To maintain a sense of anonymity amongst the artists, you agree to not post your artwork elsewhere on the Internet or reveal yourself as the artist of any of the submissions at any time during the contest and voting period. Anyone found to be doing this will be disqualified immediately. You are free to post this anywhere you want after the winner is announced, of course.
- Artists are not to be speculated upon in comments, talk pages, or elsewhere on the site. CORRECT: "I like entry #2." INCORRECT: "I bet LordTBT drew entry #2!"
- Artists may not encourage voting for their particular artwork. This is also grounds for disqualification.
- Artists may not reveal they are planning on entering or that they have in fact entered the contest until the winner is announced. To be clear, all identities of any artists participating in this contest will not be stated until the very end.
- Artwork found to be copied from another artist is grounds for disqualification. Original works only!
- Notification of Winners: One winner selected by the audience of this site will be notified via e-mail, failure to respond in 48 hours will result in a new winner being declared.
Additional Conditions
By submitting your artwork, you authorize it for hosting and display on the Redwall Wiki indefinitely without compensation to you. You acknowledge that your submission is an original work created and designed by you, and that you understand all the rules as explained above.
Tue, 18 Oct 2011, 11:31 pm
Release: Redwall Wiki Turns 6
Today, the Redwall Wiki officially celebrates its 6th birthday, and it has been a great past few years.Unfortunately, this year can't help but be overshadowed by the loss of
Mr. Jacques, and as a result I'm going to keep our annual press release brief in honor of his memory.What's important is this:Even though at this time it is totally unknown if we will ever see another
Redwall novel, be it from Mr. Jacques himself or another author who has received the go-ahead, the Redwall Wiki isn't going anywhere. We will continue to serve as the best Internet resource for
Redwall information, news, fan fiction and fan artwork.I'm personally hopeful that there may be one more novel out there, and if we're lucky a
Redwall film adaptation will happen.In the past few years we've done an annual art contest, and honestly I'm not sure if you guys want one this year, so I've decided to put it up for a vote. If a significant number of people vote for one, we'll do it. If a majority votes for a contest and it's only 3 people, that's not really necessary. I'd like to see as many entries as possible.Thanks to everyone who visits this site and contributes to articles, fan fiction, and art. We couldn't do it without you.
Mon, 10 Oct 2011, 11:21 pm
Brian_Jacques BBC Tribute
Brian Jacques will be honored this weekend with a one hour tribute on BBC Radio Merseyside.At 5PM BST August 28th,
The Life of Brian - Remembering Jakestown will air, and it is said to feature archival Jacques audio, as well as thoughts from
David and Jimmy Jacques and BBC coworkers.BBC Radio Merseyside can be streamed
right here, so hopefully international listeners can tune in for this special.The program will air again at 9PM BST, August 31.
Thu, 25 Aug 2011, 3:24 am
Perhaps a Redwall movie is coming
For the past two years, a group of
Redwall fans has attempted to produce a
Redwall movie on their own - albeit with no legal permission from The Redwall Abbey Company, and thus a heinous violation of copyright and an infringement on
Brian Jacques' intellectual property. It is
illegal to produce/create movies using copyrighted material without proper licensing, even if you have no intention to profit off of it.It is for these reasons that this project has never been linked on this website, and it will not be linked here even now, as we take copyright and legal issues very very seriously.Thus you can imagine my relief this week when Alan Ingram on behalf of The Redwall Abbey Company contacted this group of people and informed them that film rights were not available, effectively halting all work on the project.However, Mr. Ingram also noted in his e-mail that the Redwall Abbey Co. was in "contractual talks with another interested party," and that they were "close to reaching an agreement," which is incredibly positive news for a potential
Redwall novel big screen adaptation, and I sincerely hope it all works out for the best for everyone involved.Hopefully we will see a tale of
Redwall at cinemas in the near future.
Thu, 18 Aug 2011, 1:49 am