Warner Bros. Acquires Motion Picture Rights to #1 Bestselling Children's Series, Septimus Heap

Warner Bros. Acquires Motion Picture Rights to #1 Bestselling Children's Series, Septimus Heap

NEW YORK, July 12 /PRNewswire/ -- HarperCollins Publishers announced today that Warner Bros. Pictures has acquired the feature film rights to the seven- book fantasy series, Septimus Heap. This bestselling series marks UK author Angie Sage's first foray into middle-grade fantasy.

Septimus Heap: Magyk, the first book in the series will be produced by Karen Rosenfelt (The Devil Wears Prada) with Sage as Executive Producer.

The series tells the story of two babies that are switched at birth: one, a boy who discovers his birthright as the seventh son of a seventh son, and ultimately, a powerful wizard; the other, a girl who is destined to become Princess. Their stories are set in a weird and wonderful fairy-tale England and their journeys of self-discovery are filled with hilarious characters and clever charms, potions and spells.

"We are delighted that Warner Bros. will be creating films from the Septimus Heap series," said Susan Katz, President and Publisher of HarperCollins Children's Books. "We know that the producers share our belief that the world of Septimus Heap is quirky, humorous, and unlike anything else in children's fantasy."

Published in March 2005 by HarperCollins Children's Books, Septimus Heap: Magyk was an international bestseller. It debuted at #3 on the New York Times Best Sellers List and moved to #1 in its second week on-sale. The subsequent books in the series, Septimus Heap: Flyte and Septimus Heap: Physik, were published in March 2006 and March 2007, respectively.

Since its inception, the Septimus Heap series has sold more than 1 million units in the United States. All of the books have appeared on national bestseller lists in the U.S. immediately following publication, including the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Book Sense. The series has been sold in 28 languages and has appeared on the bestseller lists in France, Sweden, Spain, and in the UK.

Angie Sage was born in London and grew up in the Thames Valley, London, and Kent, and currently lives in Cornwall, England. She has created many picture books and chapter books, published primarily in the UK.

Angie Sage is represented by literary agent Eunice McMullen. Courtenay Valenti negotiated the deal on behalf of Warner Bros. Studios. Joan Rosen, Vice President, Director of Subsidiary Rights for HarperCollins Children's Books and their agent, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein of The Gotham Group negotiated the deal for HarperCollins Publishers. The Septimus Heap series is published by Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Children's Books.

About HarperCollins Children's Books

HarperCollins Children's Books is one of the leading publishers of children's books. Respected worldwide for its tradition of publishing quality, award-winning books for young readers, HarperCollins is home to many children's classics -- Charlotte's Web, The Chronicles of Narnia, Goodnight Moon, Where the Sidewalk Ends and Where the Wild Things Are; popular series -- A Series of Unfortunate Events and The Princess Diaries. HarperCollins Children's Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers, one of the leading English language publishers in the world and a subsidiary of News Corporation (NYSE:NWS)(NYSE:NWS.A). Headquartered in New York, HarperCollins has publishing groups in the U.S., Canada, the UK and Australasia. You can visit HarperCollins Children's Books on the internet at http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: HarperCollins Children's Books

CONTACT: Cindy Tamasi of HarperCollins Children's Books,
+1-212-261-6794; or Andrea Marozas of Warner Bros. Entertainment,
+1-818-954-4849

Web site:

http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/

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