Pratchett novels go to Hollywood

Pratchett's novels appear in 27 languages

UK author Terry Pratchett has signed a deal to have three of his fantasy novels turned into animated films.

The film rights to the British author's best-selling Bromeliad Trilogy have been snapped up by Hollywood giant DreamWorks.

The deal is reported to be worth just under $1m (£699,484) and will result in three computer-animated films of the novels Truckers, Diggers and Wings.

His Bromeliad trilogy is a wonderful blend of fantasy and humour

Jeffrey Katzenberg of DreamWorks

"There are few authors whose work lends itself to animation as well as Terry Pratchett's," DreamWorks' Jeffrey Katzenberg told Daily Variety.

DreamWorks was set up by director Stephen Spielberg along with producers Katzenberg and David Geffen and is responsible for movies like Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan and Chicken Run.

The movies will be made by animators Andrew Adamson and Joe Stillman.

They co-directed and co-wrote the forthcoming animated adventure Shrek, which uses the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz.

'Star turtle'

Pratchett, who lives in south Wiltshire, said that DreamWorks record on animation had won him around.

The trilogy follows the adventures of a group of "nomes"

"I liked Chicken Run and Galaxy Quest, and you've got to be impressed when someone from the studio phones up from Hollywood one night and turns up for lunch in Wiltshire the very next day," he said.

Pratchett was born, in Buckinghamshire in 1948 and started writing as a child, getting his first story published when he was just 13-years-old.

He went on to work as a journalist on a local newspaper before taking up a post as a press officer in the nuclear power industry.

His famous Discworld novels introduced a whole new array of comic characters who live in a world supported by four elephants who stand atop a giant "star turtle" which swims endlessly through space.

It was this hugely popular series that changed Pratchett's life by making him one of the UK's best-selling authors.

His Bromeliad series follows the adventures of a group of "nomes" who live in a department store until it gets demolished.

They are forced to move out into the outside world for the first time and discover their real origins as aliens.

Pratchett's books have sold more than 23 million copies worldwide and are outsold in the UK only by JK Rowling's Harry Potter series.

But Pratchett's novels are not best-sellers in the US and these films could mean a breakthrough into this huge market.

Pratchett has written more than 30 novels about the likes of Corporal Carrot, Granny Weatherwax and Gaspode the Wonder Dog.

He was named an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1998.