What’s Ahead for Walden Media

When you’re in the business of telling stories, there’s nothing more exciting than having a truly great story to tell. We’re proud to say we have some fantastic projects in the works at Walden Media and Walden Pond Press. Here’s a sample of what’s to come:

• We’ve partnered with Universal Pictures to develop the film adaptation of Unbroken, the incredible story of World War II hero Louis Zamperini as retold by Laura Hillenbrand. (If you haven’t read it yet, we highly recommend it!) Angelina Jolie is in final talks to direct, and Les Miserables co-writer William Nicholson penned the most recent version of the script.

• Also in the works: the adaptation of Lois Lowry‘s award-winning dystopian novel The Giver. Set in a society that has rejected individuality in favor of “Sameness,” the story centers on 12-year-old Jonas, who has been selected to take on his community’s most important role. The Giver is one of four Lowry books set in the same futuristic time period; Gathering Blue, Messenger and Son are the other titles in the quartet.

• If you set foot in an elementary school anytime after 1985, chances are you’ve traveled the virtual world in hot pursuit of a notorious detective-turned-villainess via the video game Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? We’ve partnered with Jennifer Lopez to bring a live-action version of the globetrotting game to the big screen. Lopez will produce and potentially star, and screenwriter Darren Lemke (Shrek Ever After) is penning the script.

• The holiday season may be over, but we still have Christmas on the brain at Walden Media, as we continue to develop a film adaptation of beloved holiday tale Best Christmas Pageant Ever. The story focuses on the six “worst kids in the history of the world,” and the havoc they wreak on the town’s annual pageant; as well as the unexpected lesson they teach their community about the true meaning of Christmas. Andy Fickman (Parental Guidance) will direct.
• Other projects on our to-do list include film adaptations of a trio of two-dimensional favorites: Flat Stanley, The Berenstain Bears and The Family Circus.
• On the home entertainment front, our education drama Won’t Back Down was recently released on DVD and Blu-ray; our surfing biopic Chasing Mavericks comes to DVD and Blu-ray on Feb. 26; and family comedy Parental Guidance will be out on DVD and Blu-ray on Mar. 26.

Up next: the Walden Pond Press Book Report. Stay tuned.

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