After over three decades, Paulo Coelho's 'The Alchemist' is getting a film adaptation
35 years after Paulo Coelho's best-selling novel The Alchemist was published, the literary classic is finally getting its own film adaptation.
Deadline reported that California-based producer Legendary Entertainment has acquired the film, television, and ancillary rights to the the book.
Acclaimed playwright and screenwriter Jack Thorne is expected to write the script. He is the creative genius behind the spellbinding play "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" as well as popular Netflix series "Enola Holmes," among many other projects.
The Alchemist follows a young shepherd named Santiago, who embarks on a journey to the Egyptian Pyramids to find a treasure "as extravagant as any ever found." Along the way, he discovers that there are far greater treasures than earthly riches and that they are usually found in following our dreams and listening to our hearts.
The book was first published in Portuguese way back 1988 and later became the most translated book worldwide by a living author, according to Guinness Records. It has won several wads, including the Nielsen Gold Book Award, Grand Prix Litteraire Elle, and the Corine International Award for fiction.
Prior to Legendary Entertainment's announcement, there were already plans for the novel to be turned into a film in the previous years. The latest was with Westbrook Studios which is owned by celebrity couple Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. None of the plans, however, made it to the big screen.