RCS - BloomsburyPublishing - Author Katherine Rundell announces multi-film deal

Bloomsbury PublishingAnnouncement

08/10/2025 07:00

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RNS Number : 5326C  Bloomsbury Publishing PLC  08 October 2025

BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING PLC

("Bloomsbury" or "the Company")

 

Bloomsbury bestselling author Katherine Rundell announces multi-film deal with
Disney

Bloomsbury bestselling author Katherine Rundell has announced a multi-film
deal with Disney (press release below). Katherine Rundell has published two
books in the bestselling Impossible Creatures series with three more to be
published. Bloomsbury hold the print, ebook and audio rights exclusively in
the UK, Europe and Commonwealth. We have published Rundell since 2015 and in
2024 she was awarded both 'Author of The Year' and 'Children's Book of The
Year' at The British Book Awards.

 

THE WALT DISNEY STUDIOS ACQUIRES RIGHTS TO "IMPOSSIBLE CREATURES" BOOK SERIES
FROM ACCLAIMED AUTHOR KATHERINE RUNDELL

 

Expansive Deal Includes First-Look Relationship with Rundell's Production
Company, Impossible Films. Rundell to Pen and Develop Theatrical Feature Film
Screenplays for First Two Books in Blockbuster Fantasy Series

 

BURBANK, CALIF. -07 October 2025- The Walt Disney Studios has acquired rights
to acclaimed British writer Katherine Rundell's award-winning and critically
celebrated fantasy series, "Impossible Creatures." The series which debuted in
2023 and is set in the fictional world of the Glimouria Archipelago, has
quickly become a publishing phenomenon. The most recent installment, "The
Poisoned King," debuted as an immediate global bestseller making Rundell the
first U.K. children's author since J.K. Rowling to simultaneously reach the
No. 1 position on the children's book charts in both the U.K. and the U.S. To
date, Rundell's full body of work has sold more than four million copies
worldwide, and in 2024 she was awarded both 'Author of The Year' and
'Children's Book of The Year' at The British Book Awards.

 

Initially envisioned as a trilogy, Rundell expanded "Impossible Creatures" to
a five-book series earlier this year in two major seven-figure publishing
deals with Bloomsbury and Knopf. The first two books have already sold over
one million copies across 37 territories, and Rundell is in discussions to
further expand the franchise beyond the five-novel series.

 

As part of Disney's expansive deal with Rundell and her production company
Impossible Films, Disney has secured theatrical film and ancillary rights to
the "Impossible Creatures" series, with Rundell central to the creative vision
and development of the franchise. She will adapt the first two books into
feature film screenplays under the Disney Live Action banner and produce
alongside her creative partner Charles Collier. In addition, Impossible Films
will begin a first-look development relationship with Disney that includes all
of Rundell's current and upcoming literary properties. Impossible Films will
remain based in London and led by Rundell with a team that includes Collier,
producer Alexandra Derbyshire ("Paddington 2," "Wonka") and Simon Bax, former
CFO of Pixar Animation Studios and President of Studio Operations at Fox.

 

Rundell's transportive book series will join Disney's legacy of groundbreaking
storytelling and collaboration with visionary artists and filmmakers. With its
richly imagined universe brimming with unique characters and endless
possibilities, "Impossible Creatures" and the world of "Glimouria" are poised
to captivate audiences for years to come.

 

"I'm absolutely thrilled to be linking arms with Disney. It's a privilege to
be writing these screenplays and developing these first movies in the
franchise together with Charles, my team at Impossible Films, and with the
exceptional team at Disney," said Katherine Rundell. "I'm especially grateful
to Bob Iger, whose enthusiasm after reading the book helped set this
collaboration in motion, and to Alan Bergman and David Greenbaum for being
incredible partners throughout this process. Our ambition is to build
'Glimouria' and 'Impossible Creatures' into a spectacular series of films, so
that we can entertain and inspire family audiences across the world."

 

"When I read 'Impossible Creatures,' I knew it belonged here at Disney. I was
immediately drawn into the vibrant world Katherine imagined and the
possibilities of what we could do together with this story," said Bob Iger,
CEO of The Walt Disney Company. "Written by Katherine herself, these movies
are in the best of hands with our Walt Disney Studios team, and I can't wait
to see this tale brought to the screen."

"Katherine Rundell has masterfully crafted a spectacular and immersive world
with 'Impossible Creatures,' and her vision is a perfect match for the Disney
storytelling tradition," said Alan Bergman, Co-Chairman, Disney Entertainment,
The Walt Disney Company, and David Greenbaum, President, Disney Live Action
and 20th Century Studios. "We are thrilled to collaborate with Katherine and
Charles to bring this epic saga to life for audiences worldwide-it's going to
be an extraordinary adventure."

 

About Katherine Rundell:

Katherine Rundell is an award-winning author, screenwriter, presenter, and
academic. Her books have sold over 4 million copies worldwide.

 

Her most recent novels "The Poisoned King" and "Impossible Creatures" were
both instant Sunday Times Bestsellers and #1 New York Times Bestsellers.
"Impossible Creatures" received universal critical acclaim and won the
Waterstones 2023 Book of the Year Award. In 2024, Katherine was awarded
'Author of the Year' and 'Children's Fiction Book of the Year' at the British
Book Awards. Her other award-winning novels for children include
"Rooftoppers," "The Wolf Wilder" and "The Explorer."

Katherine's further books include the critically acclaimed and bestselling
"Super-Infinite," a biography of the metaphysical poet John Donne, which won
the prestigious Baillie Gifford Prize for best non-fiction nook of the year.
Her book about the extinction crisis "The Golden Mole" and her book "Why You
Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old And Wise" were also
Sunday Times Bestsellers.

Katherine's work has been awarded the Costa Children's Book Award, Blue Peter
Book Award, Waterstones Book of the Year, and the Waterstones Children's Book
Prize, amongst others. As a journalist, she contributes to The London Review
of Books, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Guardian and The Times. Her
work as a writer and presenter for television and radio includes "Abducted"
for the BBC and "The Lion, the Witch and the Wonder" for BBC Radio 4 and the
upcoming "A Carnival of Animals" which will broadcast in 20 episodes across
October 2025 on BBC Radio 4.

In 2023, she established her production company Impossible Films, through
which she develops film, TV and theatre projects based on her own works.

 

Katherine is a Fellow of St Catherine's College, Oxford and quondam fellow of
Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.

 

For further information, please contact:

 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
 Tamsin Garrity, Head of Investor Relations      tamsin.garrity@bloomsbury.com
 Hudson Sandler                                  +44 (0) 20 7796 4133
 Dan de Belder / Hattie Dreyfus / Emily Brooker  bloomsbury@hudsonsandler.com

 

 

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