Today Deadline learned that Will Dunn has been tapped to adapt Ray Bradbury’s 1972 fantasy novel The Halloween Tree for Warner Bros.
The previous adaptation was written and narrated by Bradbury. The Hanna-Barbera’s 1993 animated feature of the novel was made for television, and earned Bradbury a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program.
“The Halloween Tree follows Tom and his schoolmates who begin to investigate the strange happenings in their small town on Halloween night. Their friend Pip is abducted by a powerful demon from the Land of the Dead. With the help of an unlikely ally, a mysterious figure named Moundshroud, Tom and his pals must journey into the Land of the Dead to save their friend.”
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“In the book, the boys with Moundshroud pursue their friend across time and space traveling to ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, and to places such as the Notre Dame Cathedral in medieval Paris, and the Day of the Dead in Mexico. Along the way, they learn the origins of the holiday that they celebrate, and the role that the fear of death, ghosts, and the haunts has played in shaping civilization. The Halloween Tree itself, with its many branches laden with jack-o’-lanterns, serves as a metaphor for the historical confluence of these traditions.”
You can currently rent the full version of the 1993 animated film on GooglePlay and Amazon Prime. Be sure to follow ScaryNerd for more of all things horror.
