Warner Bros. Buys Rights to Terry Brooks' Shannara Fantasy Series

Posted on June 6, 2007

Warner Bros. has purchased the film rights to Terry Brooks' Shannara fantasy series, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Shannara series, which blends technology and magic, is set in a world decimated by apocalyptic battles, with mankind splitting into races of trolls, gnomes, dwarves and men, with elves coming out of hiding. Politics and war are waged using magic with a backdrop of the skeletal remains of skyscrapers and subways.

The first book, "The Sword of Shannara," was published by Random House in 1977, written by Brooks to stave off boredom brought on by entering law school. The book was the first fantasy book to get on, and then top, the New York Times best-seller list.

Brooks wrote more than a dozen books in the series, most recently 2005's "Straken." The studio is eyeing the second book, "The Elfstones of Shannara," as the book most likely to serve as the jumping off point. Writers are now being sought to adapt.

So that means that Terry Brooks won't be adapting his own work? Getting the right screenwriting team will be crucial to bring this epic fantasy series to the screen. Eragon didn't translate so easily to the screen, with lousy reviews and a domestic box office take of $75,030,163 on a budget of $100 million. They'll make a profit on DVD and foreign sales, but it was no blockbuster.

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