Universal Studies DRAGONOLOGY
The venerable movie company recently acquired the rights to the fantasy series about dragons in the real world.
Universal Studios now has in the works a movie version of Book One in Dugald A. Steer's children's book series Dragonology, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The mock nonfiction books follow the premise that dragons actually exist, as revealed by Victorian dragonologist Ernest Drake. An underlying theme is that dragons should be studied and revered in the same way as any rare species.
Scribe Leonard Hartman (Fury) has been tapped to both write and executive produce the first adaptation, which revolves around a group of dragonologists who go on a globetrotting quest to keep a corrupt man from taking control of the world's dragons and using them to wipe out humanity.
Published in the U.K. in 2003, the first book has sold more than 2.3 million copies worldwide in 32 languages.
The subsequent novels deal with how to track and tame dragons to a code-writing kit, bringing total worldwide sales of all Dragonology titles to 5.7 million.
Video game producer Codemasters recently grabbed the licensing rights to develop Dragonology into Nintendo Wii and DS games.
[Thanks to Mania's JARROD SARAFIN.]