Status Report

Hi everyone. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Took some time, but I managed to recover all of the posts of this blog from a little over a decade ago (Our last post was in 2014). We had switched webhosts, but the blog database had gotten left behind in the transfer. It has been resurfaced with the last backup I had. The formatting may be off, but the content is all there for those who are feeling nostalgic and want to go back in time.

For current state, there are no plans to continue updating this site. Luckily, there is an active fan base alive on Reddit, and Scholastic is still producing Animorphs rereleases as audiobooks, e-books, and graphic novels (although these are adaptations and not new stories).

The movie is basically stuck ‘in development’, and Michael & Katherine have creatively parted ways with PictureStart. I’ve gone ahead and broken things down for those who have been out of the loop:

Official Releases

• Audiobooks
• Ebooks
• Graphic Novels

Active Communities

• /r/Animorphs on Reddit

Movie News (as of 2024)

Michael & Katherine left PictureStart’s Animorphs Movie in 2021 (Interview by the Animorphs Anonymous fan podcast), one year after the series was announced for development.

• Watch the interview here: Movie update starts at 31:25
• Read Fan Discussion about the Interview on Reddit
• animorphsmovie.com is still owned by Sony Pictures, however it continues to be a redirect to a generic page.

No further updates have been made. And since Michael & Katherine are no longer involved, we likely won’t hear anything unless PictureStart makes the announcement or updates their Animorphs page.

Cassie Short Story (as of 2024)

A mock interview was planned to be published on Katherine’s website in the summer of 2022, however it was never released (Source: Reddit & Twitter). It’s possible it may come out eventually, but we have no further news to provide there:

That is all the new info I can think of, but if you want to stay connected then there are still pockets of the fanbase out there creating projects and discussing the series.

As far as the state of this site goes, it will remain as an archive, even if updates are rare. The original intent for this site was to have a place where fans could look back on the series, and I think for the most part we’ve accomplished that, even if we couldn’t fill in all the blanks.

Thank you to everyone that has regularly visited, contributed, shared their thoughts and creative projects with us. This website started as a personal passion project, and I ended up connecting with some really cool people on the way that made it so much better as a community. Thank you.

 

The first season of the Animorphs TV show is now available on Amazon Instant Video! Episodes can be purchased for $1.99 each, to stream and digitally download, and the Instant Video app is available to download on Xbox, Playstation, Wii, Apple, and Kindle stores.

The announcement comes from Scholastic as they release other ’90s favourites, such as Goosebumps and The Magic School Bus. No news yet regarding the release of the second season, but we’ll keep you posted.

 

Thanks to Jenny, an Animorphs adaptation has been pushed for today’s PopWatch column in Entertainment Weekly. Here’s an excerpt:

 

Even though Applegate’s characters all had highly developed senses of humor, the series was also surprisingly dark — at least for the pre-Hunger Games era. Back then, most mass-market middle-grade tales didn’t bother exploring the shades of gray that lie between the poles of good and evil. But as the Animorphs books progressed, the Animorphs themselves grew increasingly jaded and shell-shocked. They did terrible things in the name of their worthy cause, then struggled to live with their decisions; they grew increasingly alienated from their families and non-Animorph friends, who couldn’t possibly understand the harsh realities of war. The book’s battles were reasonably graphic, but not in a way that glorified violence. Even morphing scenes, in which the kids transformed into tigers or dolphins or houseflies, emphasized how grotesque and disturbing it was for the characters to watch each other suddenly sprout claws or tails or a proboscis. (Also, the books taught kids cool words like “proboscis.”)

Animorphs‘ moral universe was also a lot more sophisticated than non-readers might expect. (…)

The full article can be found at popwatch.ew.com

 

Thanks to Noah once again, Sony Pictures has now renewed all those Animorphs movie domains we previously listed in December, 2012. The new expiration date for all of them are June, 2014.

Once again, here are the domains that were renewed:

• animorphsmovie.com
• animorphs-movie.com
• animorphs-movie.net

As you can see, nothing has really changed once you click on them. They just forward onto Sony Pictures as before. No official announcements or press releases have been made regarding an Animorphs movie either, but we’ll definitely take the renewal as a good sign that there is still a possibility, however little it may be at this point.

 

A real interesting piece of news has recently surfaced, thanks to Greg from The Pop Arena. It looks like the Nickelodeon Animorphs show from the ’90s is now re-airing (possibly in High Definition) on Qubo, every Saturday at 9 PM. Here is the video announcing the news:

 

 

Noah strikes again! Not only does Sony Pictures own animorphs.net, but they also own the following domains:

• animorphsmovie.com
• animorphs-movie.com
• animorphs-movie.net

Following up from our previous post, there is no doubt at all now that Scholastic had something in the works for over a year. However, it still remains to be seen as to whether or not they intend to go ahead with their plans. Remember that the relaunch is cancelled and that these domains are not recent purchases. In fact, they are over 3 years old, and Scholastic still hasn’t released any official statement to make us think this is a sure thing.

One other important thing to note is that the registration for all these domains are a little different from animorphs.net. These movie domains were purchased months before the relaunch was announced, which again confirms the fact that they were testing the market based on the sales of those books.

Also, these domains all expire on June 19th, 2013. So it’s best to disregard the deadline date from our previous post as well, because we don’t have a year anymore. If the fans want to show support, they have to do it fast!

That’s all for now. We’ll post more info as we hear it.

 

A big thanks to Noah for pointing this out: Sony Pictures currently owns the animorphs.net domain name. However, before you get too excited, you should know that going to that domain simply takes you to a default landing page on their site. As of yet, there is no official announcement regarding an Animorphs movie.

I researched this a bit and it looks like this was not a recent purchase. 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 reprints.

As to why it is registered by Sony Pictures and leads to them, instead of Scholastic? The most likely reason is that Sony Pictures owns Columbia TriStar Home Video, which was the company responsible for distributing the old TV Show on VHS. As far as I know, the licensing agreement and distribution rights still stand (Source: Scholastic/Columbia TriStar Press Release, 1998).

But forget about the TV show for a moment, because what we’re all really interested in is the possible production of a movie release, right? So here is what we do know: Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant (co-authors of Animorphs) both replied to a Q&A in early 2008 saying that they had been seriously approached by a producer for an Animorphs movie (Source), but that never seemed to go anywhere past the original pitch.

However, from what I’ve been told, Scholastic still does want to make it happen, and that at one point Scholastic did have plans for a feature length Animorphs movie on the back burner for over a year. Whether or not they still do after the cancellation of the relaunch, I have no idea. But this information has been passed on to me by more than one anonymous source involved with Scholastic.

That all said, this is still not official, and the circumstances haven’t changed: Scholastic still needs to know if there is a market for Animorphs. The relaunch was a way to gauge that, but the low sales and eventual cancellation of the reprints have not been a good sign.

So what can we do to help change this? At the current moment, the animorphs.net domain is registered until December 8th, 2013. If the Animorphs fan base wants to build any kind of campaign to help convince Scholastic, then consider this as the deadline. Until there is something that lets Scholastic know there will a reasonable profit in pursuing a movie or a 2.0 book series, we will not see it happen anytime in the near future.

I think that covers everything for now. As always, we will keep you updated should there be any official progress in the continuation of Animorphs. Also, if anyone comes across anything else that is interesting, then please be sure to forward it to us to have a look. (And if TPTB are reading this up at Scholastic HQ, then get a hold of me too — I want to help make this happen just as much as you do!)

 

There is a lot of new info today, so lets get started:

1. K.A. Applegate is now officially on Twitter!

   Follow her @KAAauthor.

 

2. Michael Grant (co-author/creator of Animorphs) is doing a ridiculous number of LIVE interviews on the radio today (March 1st). If any fan happens to record one of these interviews, then send ’em our way!

   See full schedule of Michael Grant’s radio interviews.

 

3. K.A and Michael are currently doing several school visits as well. Michael is primarily doing his book tour in the U.K, and has posted his schedule on Facebook. His first UK visit is on March 13th, 2012. U.S dates are currently unannounced.

   See the UK schedule for private and public events.

 

4. Animorphs #6: The Capture is officially relaunched today in both lenticular paperback and ebook editions.

   See the official summary and order info.

 

5. While not official yet, there is some good news for GONE fans regarding the possibility of a movie!
   

   See Michael Grant’s update for the Gone movie.

 

6. EVE AND ADAM is now available to pre-order! No official cover or summary yet, but the release date is set for October 2nd, 2012.

   This will be the first book by both K.A and Michael since Remnants. The only detail we know about the book at this point is that it is a dark comedy with male (Michael) and female (Katherine) perspectives.

   Pre-Orders are currently only available for U.S and Canada.

 

I think that covers everything for now. Be sure to follow both Michael and Katherine for any upcoming tour dates, as well as us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest info!

 

The Animorphs #4 relaunch edit list is now up on our Missions page. As with the previous three books, there some more updates to technology and pop-culture references that I think people will find interesting. If I’ve missed something in my re-read, then please do let me know!

Also, Animorphs #7 is now available to pre-order! The links are set up on our order page. A slightly larger version of the cover for #7 was also released via the 2011 Frankfurt Book Fair Rights Guide (see right). I have uploaded the PDF catalog, and posted the picture for it in it’s relaunch page.

In addition to this, I have also gone through all of the relaunch pages and taken away some of the clutter and added a few new things as well. Here are the new additions in today’s update:

• High-Res Front Covers for relaunch books #2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
• High-Res Back Covers for relaunch books #3, 4, and 5.
• New/edited Trivia on all relaunch books.
• New relaunch edits and updates list for #4.
• Frankfurt Rights Guide and larger cover for #7.

Finally, Michael Grant (co-author/co-creator of Animorphs) recently posted on Facebook that Sony Pictures has acquired the movie licensing rights to his new and upcoming series, BZRK, for the Sam Raimi Company! This exclusive post was made by Deadline New York, and the article can be viewed here.

This is very surprising, and shows a great amount of confidence in the material, considering that the first book in the trilogy isn’t even going to be released until March 2012! A very big congrats to Michael Grant from us on this excellent news!

That’s all for now. Be sure to let me know of any edits or mistakes I may have missed, and I’ll get them fixed as soon as I can. Until next time!

 

Taking a little break from the relaunch stuff, I came across this neat trailer a little while back that I think is worth sharing. It uses a few scenes from the TV show, but is otherwise filmed entirely by fans:

There are also a few fans out there that have written their own scripts for the adaptation of the books. The first one is by Dogman15, for Animorphs #1: The Invasion. And the second one is actually a theatrical production for Animorphs #6: The Capture by Drake. He tells me that this has already been staged and is in production for a play-writing college class in Florida. He’s going to try and get this filmed, and pass it along to us if possible! I have added links to both scripts in our fan fiction section.

To close off today’s post, here is another great little clip I found that the Animorphs TV Show fans will appreciate. It’s Nadia Nascimento (Cassie) being discovered at a party: