Big swashbuckling adventure is something How to Train Your Dragon director Dean DeBlois knows quite well. Now he’s going from air to land, from animation to live-action, with an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel, Treasure Island.
DeBlois will direct a new take on Treasure Island for Universal Pictures. He’ll team up with Beauty and the Beast writer Evan Spiliotopoulos on the story, with the latter penning the screenplay. Multiple adaptations of Stevenson’s novel are out there, including a 1950 version by Disney and a 1972 film starring Orson Welles. Disney also released 1996′ Muppet Treasure Island, and 2002’s big-budget flop Treasure Planet.
Ironically, Spilotopoulos was involved with the Treasure Planet sequel that would’ve happened if the first one were any good. I wonder if he’ll reuse any of his old ideas. Bet he does.
The goal for DeBlois and Spilotopoulos will be to make Stevenson’s story, full of pirates and long lost treasure, relevant to today. It’ll be a tough task but not impossible. DeBlois managed to make non-violent Vikings cool with his ‘Dragon’ films, so this should be cake. He’ll likely tackle this after completing the Micronauts film he’s doing for Paramount. [Deadline]
