Hollywood Hails a New Heir: Disney Bets Big on Katherine Rundell’s “Impossible Creatures”

The Walt Disney Company has signaled a massive strategic pivot in its quest for a new, tentpole theatrical franchise, reportedly closing a seven-figure deal to acquire the film and ancillary rights to author Katherine Rundell’s acclaimed fantasy series, Impossible Creatures. This major acquisition, secured in a fiercely competitive bidding war that reportedly included industry heavyweights like Netflix and Warner Bros., underscores Hollywood’s persistent, high-stakes hunt for the successor to the monumentally successful Harry Potter saga, driving up the acquisition cost for premium Young Adult (YA) fantasy intellectual property (IP).

The Impossible Creatures series has been a runaway success in the publishing world, with the first installment, released in 2023, and its sequel, The Poisoned King, quickly achieving global bestseller status. Rundell is the first U.K. children’s author since J.K. Rowling to simultaneously top the children’s book charts in both the U.K. and the U.S., a fact that has amplified the commercial viability and brand equity of the developing franchise.

The Creative Strategy: Author-Led Cinematic Universe

In a move that seeks to reassure the devoted book-to-film adaptation fanbase—a demographic known for its high customer lifetime value (CLV)—Disney has implemented a critical, author-centric strategy. As part of the expansive deal, Katherine Rundell herself will be central to the creative process, penning and developing the theatrical feature film screenplays for the first two books, a decision that is an immediate selling point for maintaining narrative fidelity and creative integrity.

Furthermore, the deal includes a “first-look” development relationship with Rundell’s production company, Impossible Films, for her entire current and upcoming literary portfolio. This partnership is a long-term content development commitment, demonstrating Disney’s intention to nurture a vast, interconnected narrative universe—or what the industry terms a Cinematic Universe—that extends well beyond the initial five-book saga now planned for the core series.

Key Elements of the Impossible Creatures Saga:

• The World: The story centers on Christopher Forrester, a boy who stumbles upon a portal to the Glimouria Archipelago, a hidden cluster of magical islands.
• The Creatures: This Archipelago is a sanctuary where all the creatures of myth—from griffins to sphinxes—still live, breed, and thrive. This emphasis on mythical fauna presents significant visual effects (VFX) and merchandising opportunity.
• The Conflict: Christopher befriends Mal, a flying girl, and together they embark on a quest to save the Archipelago’s creatures from a rising, malevolent force that is draining the world’s magic and causing the beasts to perish, a premise rich with high-concept fantasy and hero’s journey tropes.

Why Disney Needs the Next “Harry Potter”

This high-profile investment arrives at a pivotal time for The Walt Disney Company. While the studio maintains dominance with its legacy franchises like Marvel and Star Wars, recent box-office performances and a decline in subscriber growth for its streaming services have created urgency for developing fresh, reliable box office revenue streams with global appeal and minimal risk from external controversies.

The Strategic Rationale Behind the Acquisition:

• Filling the Fantasy Void: With the original Harry Potter film series concluded and the Fantastic Beasts franchise facing a mixed reception, a significant void exists in the Middle Grade/YA live-action fantasy market, a genre historically proven to generate immense return on investment (ROI).
• Controversy Mitigation: The ongoing controversy surrounding Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling has created a cultural opening for a new, critically acclaimed, and uncontroversial fantasy juggernaut to capture the attention of Gen Z and family audiences worldwide.
• IP Diversification: Disney’s reliance on re-adapting its own animated classics into live-action remakes, which have seen diminishing returns, mandates a push for new, original live-action theatrical franchises to balance the portfolio and sustain long-term shareholder value.
• Building Disney+: A successful theatrical run creates a powerful, high-demand asset for the Disney+ streaming service, driving subscriber acquisition cost (SAC) down and viewer retention up for years to come.

As Disney prepares to leverage its massive marketing and distribution machinery to transform Impossible Creatures from a literary phenomenon into a screen sensation, all eyes will be on whether this seven-figure gamble truly pays off and delivers the billion-dollar franchise Hollywood has been chasing for over a decade. The success of this new film series will be a defining metric for Disney’s future media strategy and its standing in the increasingly competitive global entertainment market.