Feb 28, 2019

Disney Villains Series in Development for Disney+ Streaming Service

Selina Valentino's Villains book series, which focuses on famous antagonists from Disney's animated films, will be adapted into a TV show for the studio's upcoming streaming service, Disney +, under the title "Book of Enchantment."

Valentino's books, which focus on characters such as Ursula, Maleficent, and The Beast, will be adapted by Michael Seitzman, who has worked on ABC's "Quantico" and CBS' "Code Black." He will also serve as showrunner and producer for Maniac Productions, based at ABC Studios and run with Christina Davis. The project is from ABC Signature Studios.

According to an unconfirmed Deadline source, Book of Enchantment will be "an epic world that weaves together classic Disney stories told in an entirely new way." Seitzman has reportedly been working on the pilot script and bible for the past six months.

The Book of Enchantment is currently seeking a screenwriter in the writers' room, where work is expected to begin in April. The film is also said to be location scouting in the UK with the aim of shooting in 2020, although the budget has not yet been determined.

The studio's streaming platform, Disney+, is expected to launch by the end of the year, with a number of original films in the works to fill its digital shelves. Marvel shows featuring actors from the popular film universe and both live-action and animated Star Wars series are among the announced projects, along with a hybrid remake of Lady and the Tramp and Sword in the Stone and the animated Monsters, Inc. series. one of the first.

Disney has previously utilized animated villains in theatrical feature films such as "Maleficent," the Disney Channel television film series "Descendants" featuring children as villains, and as part of the live-action ABC series "Once Upon a Time." Valentino's book series was first published in 2009, with five titles published to date and a sixth in the works.