Ray Bradbury’s The Halloween Tree in the Works at Warner Bros.

June 18, 2020

The Halloween Tree film in the works at Warner Bros.

According to Deadline, Warner Bros. Pictures in the process of developing a film adaptation of author Ray Bradbury’s fantasy novel titled The Halloween Tree with Will Dunn attached to write the screenplay. The film will be co-production between Warner Bros. and production company 42 (Military Wives, The Courier, Watership Down: Traitors) while Charlie Morrison is set to oversee the project.

First published in 1972, The Halloween Tree follows the story of Tom and his schoolmates, who went out together to go trick-or-treating on Halloween. However, when they their plans for Halloween night have changed when they instead go investigate the strange happenings in their small town. Then, their friend Pip gets suddenly 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.

Pick up a copy of the book here!

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.

The Halloween Tree was first adapted into an animated film in 1993 which was also written by Bradbury with Star Trek alum Leonard Nimoy as the narrator. For his work in the film, Bradbury had earned a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program.