"Peter Pan" Prequel Hooks Its Scribe

\n According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jay Wolpert has been tapped to adapt \"Peter and the Starcatchers,\" the best-selling novel by humorist Dave Barry and suspense writer Ridley Pearson, which will be turned into a CGI-animated feature film by Walt Disney Feature Animation.\n\nThe book was published last year by Hyperion, a subsidiary of Disney, and spent forty-seven weeks on the New York Times best-seller list. The novel explores the origins of Peter Pan and Captain Hook in a tale set before the J.M. Barrie classic \"Peter Pan.\" \"Starcatchers\" centers on a young orphaned boy, Peter, who stows away on a merchant ship (the Never Land) in order to avoid a life of servitude. The adventures begin when he finds a hidden trunk full of the celestial substance dubbed \"starstuff.\" When the shipment is hijacked by Black Stache, the most feared pirate on the High Seas, it is up to Peter to save the day.\n\nWolpert is a bit of a Hollywood anomaly. For years he served as a game show producer and was one of the creators of \"The Price Is Right.\" He reinvented himself (maybe he just didn't want to grow up) as a successful screenwriter, penning \"The Count of Monte Cristo\" for Disney and received story credit on \"Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.\" Fans of the book are anxious to see how Wolpert's experiences will translate into the creation of a successful animated adaptation of the pre-Pan tale.\n\nAccording to the book's website, the print sequel to \"Peter and the Starcatchers\" - \"Peter and the Shadow Thieves\" - will be released in July 2006.\n\nA series of chapter books by Barry and Pearson - \"Never Land Adventures\" - will feature stories from Mollusk Island. The first two books in the five-book series, \"Escape from the Carnivale\" and \"Cave of the Dark Wind,\" will be published in the Fall of 2006. -- Shannon Nolley