If you’ve had the pleasure of seeking out Michael Matthews’ terrific creature-feature Love and Monsters (read our review ★★★★ here), then the news that he’s set to direct Disney’s Merlin is very welcome indeed.
Per Deadline’s exclusive, Matthew’s is set to inherit the wizard’s wand from Ridley Scott, who was originally attached to the project, which will be an adaptation of the The Merlin Saga series of books by T.A. Barron, about the powerful wizard who would later mentor King Arthur.
It sounds as though the film is still in the very early development stages with Disney’s live-action team, and there’s no indication as to whether this will be a theatrical or Disney+ project.
Matthews will direct from a script by Chris Weitz, who is also responsible for Disney’s in-production Pinocchio, which has Robert Zemeckis pulling the strings and Tom Hanks as Geppetto.
Let us know whether you think the idea of a Merlin movie is magical, or a load of old hokum, by heading to our social channels @FlickeringMyth…