In a familiar yet different world, a young student finds out they have a penchant for magic and go to school to learn more about it. No, this isn’t Harry Potter. While it may seem similar on the surface The Paper Magician series is actually quite different—and Disney just bought the movie rights to it.
Written by author Charlie N. Holmberg, The Paper Magician is the first in a trilogy of books about a young girl named Ceony Twill. In her world, magicians manipulate and animate man-made materials and learn to do so at the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined. However, Ceony isn’t assigned metal, the most prestigious material to work with. She’s given the less-important paper, which puts her in a unique position when a new evil appears in the world.
It’s a curious premise for a book and, with Disney now in control, a very intriguing one for a movie, too. Producer Allison Shearmur, who worked on The Hunger Games, Cinderella, and Rogue One, is in charge of development.
And, of course, if the movie happens and is a success, there are two sequels out there too. There’s The Glass Magician and The Master Magician, all of which were written by Holmberg, who got her start as an author writing Star Trek fan fiction.