Warner Bros. Land of Stories Film Gets Writer After July 2025 Deal

Warner Bros. Pictures has acquired the rights to Chris Colfer's bestselling Land of Stories book series, with a live-action feature film now in active development. According to The Land of Stories Wikipedia article↗, updated within the past day, the deal was reported in July 2025: Colfer will produce the film alongside Emma Watts, who purchased the rights, and Phil Johnston is set to write the screenplay. The project marks one of the more significant children's fantasy adaptations to land at a major studio in recent years — and for a series that has sold consistently since its debut, the timing reflects renewed studio confidence in fairy-tale-rooted IP.

The film adaptation will draw on The Wishing Spell, the first book in Colfer's Land of Stories series, which follows twins Alex and Conner Bailey as they tumble into a world where fairy tales are real. The series earned a number-one spot on the New York Times bestseller list and has maintained a loyal readership across multiple sequels. As Kidscreen reported↗, Warner Bros. is developing this as a live-action feature — a meaningful distinction for a property that could easily have defaulted to animation. The choice signals ambition: a live-action fairy-tale world populated by recognisable storybook characters demands a different kind of production investment and creative vision than an animated counterpart.

Colfer himself is no stranger to the entertainment industry. Best known for his role in Glee, he began writing the Land of Stories series while still on the show — a fact that lends his producer credit here particular weight. He is not a passive rights-seller; his involvement in the production signals the kind of creative stewardship that authors and fans increasingly expect when beloved children's properties make the leap to screen. As The Hollywood Reporter noted↗, Phil Johnston — the writer behind Wreck-It Ralph and its sequel — is adapting the screenplay, a pairing that makes considerable sense given Johnston's demonstrated facility with adventure stories that remix familiar pop-cultural mythology.

The Land of Stories acquisition arrives at a moment when studios are actively reassessing their children's and family slates following a period of uncertainty in the post-pandemic theatrical market. Fairy-tale properties — particularly those with built-in multi-generational readership — represent a relatively lower-risk creative bet: the audience already exists, the world-building is done, and the emotional stakes are established. What studios must still prove is that the transition from page to screen can honour the texture of the source material. Johnston's background suggests Warner Bros. is at least asking the right questions about who should shape the script.

Emma Watts's role as producer and rights purchaser is also worth noting. Watts, a seasoned studio executive with a track record across genre and commercial film, brings institutional knowledge of how to navigate a project like this from development to greenlight. Her partnership with Colfer as a producing duo — a creator and an experienced studio hand — is a structural choice that tends to produce more coherent adaptations than arrangements where the author is kept at arm's length. Deadline's coverage↗ confirmed the project is in development at Warner Bros., though no release date or production timeline has been announced. This remains an early-stage development, and the gap between a screenplay commission and a film in cinemas can be considerable — readers should temper expectations about imminence accordingly.

For those who want to revisit the source material ahead of whatever the film eventually becomes, The Wishing Spell is the natural starting point — an inventive middle-grade fantasy that drops two siblings into a world where the stories they grew up reading turn out to be very much alive. Colfer's complete series is also available as a collected set for readers who want the full journey: The Land of Stories Complete Paperback Gift Set and The Land of Stories Complete Gift Set both cover the arc from The Wishing Spell through the later volumes. Want the full verdict on where the series begins? Read our review of The Wishing Spell for a detailed look at what Colfer built — and what Warner Bros. is now betting on.