Another Theatrical Attempt for ‘Redwall’?

IMAGEN's Proposed Logo

(Note: Links to the following sites have been disabled because they now bounce around the internet. The URLs are still referenced purely for archival purposes. Visit them at your own risk.)

A new website has revealed the surprising news that a theatrical version of Redwall is in the works for a 2011 release (h/t Redwall Wiki).

www.redwallthemovie.com, registered to the Washington based IMAGEN Films, Inc., has the teaser image that simply says “Redwall – Coming July 2011″.

The movie will apparently be a blend of live-action and CGI.

IMAGEN’s past credits consist primarily of advertisements and music videos, nothing that appears to be on the scale of a full-blown theatrical movie, so it will be interesting to see what they come up with. Their website can be found at IMAGENFilms.com.

That having been said, a healthy dose of skepticism would do fans well in this area. The prospect of a Redwall theatrical movie has been bandied about since the mid-1990′s and its history is full of several false starts.

The earliest rumors had Brian Jacques himself working on the screenplay adaptation of Martin the Warrior with the intent to produce the movies chronologically– it never materialized.

Expectations were rekindled in 2003 when the L.A. based Gotham Group (in partnership with Nelvana) tapped screenwriter Andrew Marlowe to adapt the book. After that initial report, the project vanished into the ether, never to be heard from again.

Then, only a few years ago, rumors circulated that animation titan Don Bluth was in talks to bring Redwall to the big screen, and like those that had come before it, nothing ever came of it.

IMAGEN Films might be the studio to finally do it. They may be exactly who Redwall fans have been waiting for. Or this might be just one more addition to the above list. It’s far too early to say and the website is too skeletal to consider it a done deal. Once we have a teaser trailer, that’s another story. Until then, I’d advise fans not to get too excited. I’ve simply seen this too many times before.

We wish IMAGEN the best of luck in bringing Redwall to the big screen, though, and we’ll keep you posted on future developments.

Please note that this project has been revealed to be fraudulent by Redwall.org. IMAGEN never held the rights to Redwall.

About Martin the Warrior

Martin has been active in Redwall fandom for many years, founding The Long Patrol in 1996, The Redwall Newsline in 1997, and RWTV: Redwall on TV in 2001. He will be covering Redwall news as long as there is Redwall news to cover.