Disney has been having a fairly dominant year at the box office. Of the top 10 grossing films of the year so far. 5 of them belong to Disney. 4 of them are part of the Billion Dollar Club, with a 5th in Toy Story 4 very likely to join soon. Avenger's Endgame has become the highest grossing film of all time knocking Avatar of it's 10 year throne. And they still have garunteed big hits to come like Frozen 2 and Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (And Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, which might do alright I guess?)
However, there is one film this year that Disney seems to have forgotten about, and before you ask, no, it's not Dumbo.
This is Artemis Fowl, a film based of the Artemis Fowl book series.
This film has been in development hell for quite a long time. It's quite the long journey for being produced. The observant of you may have noticed that today is August 9th. Yet it is not out in theaters. Why is that, surely Disney could have an Intern, a temp or anyone to create a poster with it's new release date? What is happening with Artemis Fowl? Well, let's go back, way back, to the year 2001...
The Beginning
Initial plans for a film adaptation go as far back to 2001 before the first book had even come out (Assumingly someone saw how much money the Harry Potter films were making and wanted a piece of that pie). The director for the film was announced as Lawrence Guterman, known for his work on some scenes for Dreamworks Antz and...
...Oh, well. Ok, Fine, it's not an immediate death blow, Cats and Dogs wasn't great but that doesn't mean the be all, end all. Maybe his next film will be better...
...Perhaps it was for the best that Artemis Fowl fell into Development Hell and didn't materialise with this director. Lawrence Guterman would eventually move on away from the project, doing some directorial work on the TV Series "Out of Jimmy's Head", considered one of Cartoon Network's worst shows of all time. And then finding some moderate success as an Executive Producer for a film called Remember in 2015.
Back to Artemis Fowl, after the initial announcement, things basically went silent for... about a decade? A screenplay was finalized in 2003 but went no where, it was next heard in 2011 with Jim Sheridan expression interest to direct.
It took until July 2013 until further news was revealed. To give a comparison point, the Percy Jackson Pentalogy of books got written, published, had a film adaption of the first book (Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief) and was primed to release a sequel film (Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters) one month later. Before anything further got heard about the Artemis Fowl film.
Disney Steps In
On July 2013, Disney announced it will be bringing Artemis Fowl to the Silver Screen. Things were looking good. you had Michael Goldenberg penning the Screenplay who was known for his work on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. You had Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal as Executive Producers. And they partnered up with Harvey Weinstein and The Weinstien Company to produce.
Wait, Harvey Weinstien? The now disgraced Harvey Weinstien? Oh no. It's just getting worse.
In September 2015 Kenneth Branagh had been hired to direct the film, who you will recognise from the first Thor movie and had recently released the fairly popular Cinderella Remake in the same year. In September 2017 we got a release date of August 9th 2019. One month later in October, Disney announced they severed ties with The Weinstien Company and Human Garbage, Harvey Weinstien.
In December a cast list got announced with Irish newcomer Ferdia Shaw had been cast as Artemis Fowl, alongside Dench as Commander Root, Josh Gad as Mulch Diggums, Lara McDonnell as Captain Holly Short, and Nonso Anozie as Butler. Further cast members were announced in March 2018 and filming began.
Josh Gad , playing Mulch Diggums made some posts on twitter about some of the film production over the course of 2018.
With his work finishing up in June of 2018, if this twitter post is to be believed.
From starting with the guy that would go on to Direct Son of the Mask and getting rid of Weinstein. Things can only be looking up for this film now, right.
The Trailer
The first trailer was released in November 2018.
Response to it were mixed to say the least. Some liking how the film looks, others feeling the film was betraying the original characters. In December 2018, a first shot of Judi Dench was Commander Root was released.
Also to mixed response.
And then... silence again.
The Present Day
On March 20th 2019, Disney announced the acquisition of 21st Century Fox. On May 7th, Disney announced that both The New Mutants and Artemis Fowl got pushed back to 2020. And that is all we have heard of since.
Just like The New Mutants, we haven't heard anything since from the film. That poster I posted at the beginning of the page? That is still the poster they are using for both it's Facebook and Twitter Social Media pages.
The film is in a limbo at the moment with no new news. All we know at the moment is it is currently due to release on May 29th of 2020, Right inbetween the releases of Fast and Furious 9 and Wonder Woman 1984.
Whether it gets delayed again. Who knows. The film has been in production so long another delay might not be that shocking. Maybe it does come out in 2020. Maybe it's moved to Disney+ to push that service. Maybe it will be good, maybe it will be bad. That is for the future to behold.
All we know is that Dora the Explorer managed to get it's big screen debut out faster than Artemis Fowl did and took it's release slot. And Dame Judi Dench has moved on to starring in the cinematic event of 2019, Cats.
I think we can end this story here for now.
However, there is one film this year that Disney seems to have forgotten about, and before you ask, no, it's not Dumbo.
This is Artemis Fowl, a film based of the Artemis Fowl book series.
This film has been in development hell for quite a long time. It's quite the long journey for being produced. The observant of you may have noticed that today is August 9th. Yet it is not out in theaters. Why is that, surely Disney could have an Intern, a temp or anyone to create a poster with it's new release date? What is happening with Artemis Fowl? Well, let's go back, way back, to the year 2001...
The Beginning
Initial plans for a film adaptation go as far back to 2001 before the first book had even come out (Assumingly someone saw how much money the Harry Potter films were making and wanted a piece of that pie). The director for the film was announced as Lawrence Guterman, known for his work on some scenes for Dreamworks Antz and...
...Oh, well. Ok, Fine, it's not an immediate death blow, Cats and Dogs wasn't great but that doesn't mean the be all, end all. Maybe his next film will be better...
...Perhaps it was for the best that Artemis Fowl fell into Development Hell and didn't materialise with this director. Lawrence Guterman would eventually move on away from the project, doing some directorial work on the TV Series "Out of Jimmy's Head", considered one of Cartoon Network's worst shows of all time. And then finding some moderate success as an Executive Producer for a film called Remember in 2015.
Back to Artemis Fowl, after the initial announcement, things basically went silent for... about a decade? A screenplay was finalized in 2003 but went no where, it was next heard in 2011 with Jim Sheridan expression interest to direct.
It took until July 2013 until further news was revealed. To give a comparison point, the Percy Jackson Pentalogy of books got written, published, had a film adaption of the first book (Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief) and was primed to release a sequel film (Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters) one month later. Before anything further got heard about the Artemis Fowl film.
Disney Steps In
On July 2013, Disney announced it will be bringing Artemis Fowl to the Silver Screen. Things were looking good. you had Michael Goldenberg penning the Screenplay who was known for his work on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. You had Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal as Executive Producers. And they partnered up with Harvey Weinstein and The Weinstien Company to produce.
Wait, Harvey Weinstien? The now disgraced Harvey Weinstien? Oh no. It's just getting worse.
In September 2015 Kenneth Branagh had been hired to direct the film, who you will recognise from the first Thor movie and had recently released the fairly popular Cinderella Remake in the same year. In September 2017 we got a release date of August 9th 2019. One month later in October, Disney announced they severed ties with The Weinstien Company and Human Garbage, Harvey Weinstien.
In December a cast list got announced with Irish newcomer Ferdia Shaw had been cast as Artemis Fowl, alongside Dench as Commander Root, Josh Gad as Mulch Diggums, Lara McDonnell as Captain Holly Short, and Nonso Anozie as Butler. Further cast members were announced in March 2018 and filming began.
Josh Gad , playing Mulch Diggums made some posts on twitter about some of the film production over the course of 2018.
With his work finishing up in June of 2018, if this twitter post is to be believed.
From starting with the guy that would go on to Direct Son of the Mask and getting rid of Weinstein. Things can only be looking up for this film now, right.
The Trailer
The first trailer was released in November 2018.
Response to it were mixed to say the least. Some liking how the film looks, others feeling the film was betraying the original characters. In December 2018, a first shot of Judi Dench was Commander Root was released.
Also to mixed response.
And then... silence again.
The Present Day
On March 20th 2019, Disney announced the acquisition of 21st Century Fox. On May 7th, Disney announced that both The New Mutants and Artemis Fowl got pushed back to 2020. And that is all we have heard of since.
Just like The New Mutants, we haven't heard anything since from the film. That poster I posted at the beginning of the page? That is still the poster they are using for both it's Facebook and Twitter Social Media pages.
The film is in a limbo at the moment with no new news. All we know at the moment is it is currently due to release on May 29th of 2020, Right inbetween the releases of Fast and Furious 9 and Wonder Woman 1984.
Whether it gets delayed again. Who knows. The film has been in production so long another delay might not be that shocking. Maybe it does come out in 2020. Maybe it's moved to Disney+ to push that service. Maybe it will be good, maybe it will be bad. That is for the future to behold.
All we know is that Dora the Explorer managed to get it's big screen debut out faster than Artemis Fowl did and took it's release slot. And Dame Judi Dench has moved on to starring in the cinematic event of 2019, Cats.
I think we can end this story here for now.
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