Penguin Books U.K. and Amber Entertainment are heading to Atlantis via a partnership that will produce Marcus Blakes action-adventure book and feature film Atlantis: Revelation.
Julian Fellowes, creator and executive producer of Downton Abbey and Gosford Park screenwriter, is exec producer on Atlantis: Revelation and is overseeing development of the film script.
The story is the first in a planned trilogy exploring the notion that the myth of the lost city of Atlantis was real.
Penguin Books U.K. will be publishing the first novel in October, written by Blake (the pen name of a U.K. novelist). The Penguin/Amber partnership is aimed at developing an all-encompassing and immersive brand experience for both readers and cinemagoers.
There are few legends that seem to touch the very heart of our human story, but the tale of the Lost City of Atlantis is one of them, the dazzling civilization, beautiful, glamorous, rich beyond measure, that was plunged beneath the sea, Fellowes said in a statement. It is an inspiring thought that this generation is to have its own retelling of the story, made even more so by the involvement of Penguin publishing, a company that has made the care of our literary culture their chief business for so many years.
Amber is in post-production on Romeo and Juliet, starring Hailee Steinfeld and Douglas Booth, and Molly Moon, an adaptation of Georgia Byngs fantasy novel about an orphan who learns the art of hypnosis. Ambers headed by former New Line exec Ileen Maisel and Lawrence Elman.
Atlantis has been part of the collective unconscious and is a myth that is known all around the world, the duo said. To marry this extraordinary story with a well-known thriller genre will make for both compulsive reading as well as for compulsive movie-going.
