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Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series may get its very own film series

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UK production company Working Title has acquired the theatrical rights to the entire series. According to Deadline.com, the company has the rights of the entire children's series spanning 21 books and intend to launch a live action franchise based on them. Working Title are known for their successful children films such as Nanny McPhee, Johnny English, and Mr. Bean’s Holiday. 

It is not known whether the films will be set in the original period or a more contemporary time. The company is said to be looking for possible writers and directors to join the project. The deal was sealed with publisher Hodder, a subsidiary of Hachette which owns the Blyton estate. 

The Famous Five series centres on the adventures of George (the tomboy Georgina), her cousins Julian, Dick, Annie and her dog Timmy. The children go to boarding school but reunite during their summer holidays. The first book was published in 1942 and was followed by 20 more. The Famous Five, as outdated as they may be, are the current flavour of the season. 

Earlier this month, the production company Old Vic Productions confirmed they had acquired stage rights of the Famous Five. The company has said that the show is still in the planning stage but will probably be a musical and should be running within two years. 

Enid Blyton, who died in 1968 of Alzheimer’s, is still one of the biggest selling children's authors of all time. This is despite criticism that her books were racist and sexist (with the exception of George who rejects her femininity completely) and that her vocabulary was limited and immature. 

Her work has been translated into over 90 languages. In 2002, it was estimated that an Enid Blyton book sells every minute in the UK. A World Book Day poll this year revealed that her books are most favoured by parents for their children.

Over the years, Blyton’s works have been adapted to the small and big screen. The British Children's Film Foundation produced two film serials: Five on a Treasure Island in 1957, and Five Have a Mystery to Solve in 1964. Danish director Katrine Hedman filmed two of the Famous Five stories, De 5 og spionerne (Five and the Spies) and De 5 i fedtefadet (Famous Five Get in Trouble) in 1969-1970. In the 1980s, a satire Five Go Mad In Dorset was broadcast as part of Channel Four's The Comic Strip Presents...series. 

A 1997 musical was made to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Enid Blyton's birth with the title The Famous Five. A later TV series, a period drama set in Wales that dramatised all the books, was produced around 1996. In 2008, Disney Channel began airing an animated modern-day version of the series featuring the children of the original Famous Five. In 2009, there was a musical version of the series at the Tabard Theatre in Chiswick. More recently, a 2012 German film was made of the books, called Fünf Freunde.

Move over butterbeer, it’s time for some good ol’ gingerbeer.

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