Looks like after we posted our previous bit of news, fans from both the Animorphs LiveJournal and RAF communities asked Michael Grant (co-author/co-creator of Animorphs) if the rumor of the re-release was true.
The answer, is YES. The re-release is definitely happening! Michael Grant confirmed this via his Twitter account. I’ve compiled all of his responses so far in the image below:
So to sum up and update upon our previous post:
1. Yes, the re-release is happening. It is no longer a rumor.
2. There WILL be new covers. Our Scholastic source told us that they are going to be “lenticular”. We’re assuming this means that they will be 3D covers that morph from one image to another when they are tilted.
You may have already seen examples of this in a variety of products, everything from trading cards to dvd covers. (Those that have the Animorphs Invasion Board Game will have a better example, as they came with a deck of morphing holographic lenticular cards for all the Animorphs. We’re guessing that the new covers could be similar to that).
3. The release date is now no longer 2012, but is estimated to be 1 year from now, so somewhere around late 2010 to 2011.
4. The re-release is still being used by Scholastic as a way to test out the market, and see if a brand new ‘Animorphs 2.0’ series will be profitable enough to invest into. They will be looking at both the sales and fan reception once the books are re-released.
5. Editorial changes to KASUs and continuity errors are still unconfirmed, and so are the packaging details (whether the books will be sold in volumes, or individually as they originally were).
More updates to come as we hear them here at Hirac Delest. 😀
Edit: Thanks to wildweathel for correcting us on the proper term for the covers. I’ve made the appropriate changes to that above.
Awesome. I hope this breathes new life into the franchise, that it gets a huge new following, and we finally get a big budgeted movie. 🙂
Comment by Ryan — December 14, 2009 @ 4:43 pm
can’t wait for the re-release!
i really hope they fix some of the KASUs. it’d be a great opportunity to do so.
maybe she won’t ghostwrite the middle books this time around. that’d definitely be worth reading.
Comment by goom — December 14, 2009 @ 7:11 pm
Wonder if they’ll update the references… PS1 to PS3, that sort of thing.
Also, submitted this info to io9 (linking hirac delest and RAFblog), hope it gets posted.
Comment by David — December 14, 2009 @ 10:12 pm
Thanks David! Appreciate it! 🙂
@goom, I think you’re confused. This isn’t going to be a re-write or a revision of the series (unless they confirm this also). At most, they might fix a few spelling mistakes, but ‘Animorphs Classic’ will still be the same story from start to finish. The re-release is simply a way to bring the books back into print again with a new look, and to test the market to potentially bring out another series to a new generation of readers.
Comment by Issam — December 15, 2009 @ 12:23 am
Don’t forget the Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys references!
This is so exciting! I’m just wondering how it will do in the market these days… there are way too many YA science-fiction/fantasy series to count on the shelves right now. Animorphs is amazing, but will the ‘new generation’ of readers see that?
Comment by amizade — December 15, 2009 @ 1:33 am
This is such happy news. Are they being rereleased in England? Oh please say they are.
Comment by Raevyn — December 15, 2009 @ 5:24 am
Sorry Raevyn, there is no current news regarding international releases for Animorphs at the moment. I’ll ask and let you guys know as soon I find out myself. 🙂
Comment by Issam — December 15, 2009 @ 1:10 pm
I am excited for the re-release! I wonder how they will do in a market overrun with vampires, werewolves, and faeries. Maybe a good ole fashion alien subversive takeover is exactly what today’s young readers need for a nice breath of fresh air?
In any case, I am very excited about this! I hope it does well so I can feel like the excited nerd I am to go pick up and read the 2.0 (if I’m that lucky!!!).
Comment by Becca — December 16, 2009 @ 10:42 am
Aw darn, I hope they’re released in England. Or amazon.com will get a lot of business from me.
I think they should replace the Spice Girls references with Girls Aloud and the Backstreet Boys references with Take That (hey they’re still around) and change that chat room sequence in..which book was it? The one with Fitey and Yeerkh8er. When she wrote that, the chatroom could only send like eight words at a time – they’re different now, aren’t they? Also the Animorphs really should have mobiles by now..
Rachel probably won’t be setting the TV to record Buffy, she’ll be setting it to record True Blood. I don’t know if Spencer’s Gifts is still around (the scene where Erek gets stuck in there and Cassie has to talk him out) aaand..what else is there?
Comment by Raevyn — December 16, 2009 @ 5:48 pm
[…] Update : (Dec 14th) The ‘Animorphs Classic’ re-release has been confirmed! […]
Pingback by Animorphs Re-release and 2.0 at The Animorphs Fan Forum Blog — December 16, 2009 @ 10:15 pm
I think the new generation will love Animorphs. I’m 13 and I have find Animorphs this summer by chance. So I know something
Sorry for the English, I’m Italian…
Comment by Aly — December 20, 2009 @ 12:30 pm
This is so exciting. I’m trying to re-collect the original series before the release, but I want to get the reprints as well. I wonder if they’ll let Barnes & Noble and Amazon do eBooks for things like the Nook and Kindle eReaders? That would be even more fantastic.
I’ve been letting all my friends who would get anything Animorphs know so they can further spread the word. Infect family, friends, cousins, schools… Yes, we can!
Comment by Sarah — December 20, 2009 @ 2:38 pm
(Recollect – I gave my complete original series away to an elementary school. I have almost half of them recollected so far XD It’s been a hobby.)
Comment by Sarah — December 20, 2009 @ 2:40 pm
This is great news, I really hope they sell well enough for Animorphs 2.0 to come out. The world needs more Animorphs lol.
Comment by Jeff — December 22, 2009 @ 8:06 pm
So excited. Why I made a new LJ comm for this news, but I’m excited. I religiously collected and saved my whole library of them but updated books are amazing.
Comment by Toby — December 31, 2009 @ 11:54 pm
@amizade @Raevyn
HELLO? You missed the MOST IMPORTANT cultural reference – XENA THE WARRIOR PRINCESS!! What can it be changed to now? Lara Croft Tomb Raider?
@ryan
I want the big-budgeted movie too. The TV series was sooo not up to expectations… all the aliens were mostly mentioned off-screen, spec. effects weren’t elaborate, and the stories weren’t developed enough. I need my movie.
Comment by Karl — January 11, 2010 @ 11:50 am
Yes! I will definitely buy those. As for 2.0, does that mean new books being written? That would be even more amazing. I’d buy them, too.
Comment by Aaron — March 20, 2010 @ 11:59 pm
I think the current generation of young readers would really get into these books too.
Comment by Aaron — March 21, 2010 @ 12:05 am
I am sooo excited for this!! It will spark interest in a new generation of readers, I’m sure, and maybe they’ll get enough money for a [good] movie, because we all know the tv show didn’t do very well. (Why the heck was it on Nickelodeon though? Cartoon Network would have made much more sense, like how goosebumps is their and stuff.) Kids at my school look at me reading these book for like 3 years straight and they think it’s unoriginal and no plot, because all they know is that these kids to turn into animals. That’s only a quarter of it!! The books have such depth that I was able to get my critical father to read them! And that’s always good 🙂 but I’ll definetely be opening the book club I’ve been talking about in school. Think about it – a new revolution of Animorphs! This’ll be totally amazing!!
But at the same time, it’s the readers like us that have witnessed the original series, the original covers coming out and whatnot, that if this really does become a big hit I’m afraid of hypocritical people coming on saying that they’ve been obsessed with the series forever when they’ve only read the new books! So in other words, while this is a GREAT thing, I’m afraid of ignorance also emerging, and I HATE ignorant people.
Comment by Ariana — May 7, 2010 @ 5:30 pm
[…] I’m excited. Looks like my favorite childhood series, Animorphs, will be reprinted sometime this year or […]
Pingback by Animorphs to be Re-Released! - General - - Anonymous Dragon — July 3, 2010 @ 9:18 pm
Backstreet boys is a very popular band during my teenage years, they are great performers too.,*~
Comment by Callum Harris — July 9, 2010 @ 7:20 am
i hope if they do rewrite it they dont kill Rachel off this time god i hope not lol
Comment by Blake — July 10, 2010 @ 12:35 pm
Maaan, I can’t wait! But I’m kind of hoping that they don’t change most of the stuff to be more recent. I mean, I can see them talking about a newer game or something. But I think I might just go insane if I were to see some of the classic stuff I love taken away. Even worse would be to see someone saying something about Twilight or something.
Comment by Aislyn Marie — October 14, 2010 @ 7:22 pm
If there EVER was to be a book series that I treasured as a child and hoped ever for a re-release to pass on to the next generation, it would have to be Animorphs.
I remember countless hours of reading the books and re-reading certain parts to my Mother and together we very much enjoyed the series. I always felt it had my attention and Applegate did a fantastic job of really knowing young teens and it felt that these were the things that children their age would do in such a world.
I’ve yet to have a child but I would love to pass this book series down to them. I never got to finish the entire series but got rather close. I’m sure this remake will bring back such fond memories.
I’m sure I’ll do everything I can to encourage kids to pick up this remake, for it’s truly a classic and is worth passing down for the rest of time, in my opinion! I look forward to it! Thank you for the input! I’m so grateful!
Comment by Jessi — January 12, 2011 @ 10:43 pm
I’m getting so excited! Yes! I feel I won in a lottery knowing about this, but I wish the scholastics can deliver to our country. Yes! Yes! Yes! I am soooo excited! Lenticular covers are fine.They really plan for this.
Comment by Katiewho — February 24, 2011 @ 10:18 pm
I am really hoping we get a different ending. Applegate ruin the series for me with the last 2 books.
Comment by Songbird21 — June 25, 2011 @ 11:33 am
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Comment by ratchet straps — February 10, 2012 @ 11:56 am
Like the appearance of the blog …
Comment by @Haleygqo — April 6, 2012 @ 10:32 pm
Are there any updates?!? will there be an animorphs 2.0???
and i see i just commented within 3 days of someone else here, as opposed to several months as before. lets up the frequency!!!
Comment by Marcogmail.com — April 9, 2012 @ 8:00 pm
[…] As I mentioned at the start of the relaunch, Scholastic has been using these reprints as way to gauge the interest in the series to start a potential Animorphs 2.0. So for the fans who were looking forward to that, a cancellation or hiatus of the Relaunch series is obviously not very promising. […]
Pingback by Hirac Delest » Relaunch Canceled? — August 23, 2012 @ 6:20 pm
[…] In fact, Sony bought this domain on December 8th, 2009 — approximately a week before we officially confirmed the Animorphs relaunch here on Hirac Delest. So most likely this was just one of the few possible domain names seized in preparation of the […]
Pingback by Hirac Delest » Sony Pictures owns animorphs.net (Movie Update) — December 11, 2012 @ 4:32 pm