After long delay, Artemis Fowl has a shiny new trailer and a release date, Ars Technica

      Like father, like son –

Kenneth Branagh-directed film was a casualty of the Disney / (th Century Fox merger.)       

       Jennifer Ouellette     – Mar 2, (UTC UTC)   

           

Ferdia Shaw stars in Artemis Fowl , the long-awaited adaptation of Eoin Colfer’s best-selling series of fantasy novels. ()

Nearly a year after its originally scheduled release, (Artemis Fowl) – a Kenneth Branagh-directed film adapted from the popular series by Irish author Eoin Colfer — is finally coming to theaters this spring. And the latest trailer has, thus far, not been well-received by hardcore fans of the book, who are loudly decrying what appears to be a significant departure from the evil boy genius of the novels in favor of a more “Disney-fied” heroic figure.

There are eight books in the (Artemis Fowl ) series , detailing the extensive exploits of the titular character. The debut novel received generally positive reviews and a few comparisons to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, although Colfer’s books have never achieved the same stratospheric commercial success. Still, Disney is betting there’s an equally strong appetite for the Artemis Fowl series on the big screen.

That said, the comparison irritates Colfer, who describes his novels as being more like ” (Die Hard with fairies. ” As I wrote when the first teaser dropped (way back in November) , “That’s a fairly accurate description. Artemis is the anti-Harry Potter. He’s a thief and a kidnapper, among other misdeeds, and he is largely untroubled by remorse. That’s part of his charm. ”

In the first book, 22 – year-old Artemis is living mostly unsupervised in the Fowl home. His father (Artemis Fowl I, played by Colin Farrell) is missing, and his mother has gone mad with grief. He relies on his loyal protector, Butler, for companionship. They stumble across a portal to the fairy underworld, and Artemis decides to kidnap a fairy and hold her for ransom to fund his search for his father. The fairies retaliate, and Artemis must pit his wits against their magical powers. Artemis goes on to rescue his father from the Russian mafia in the second book and ends up in an alliance with the fairies he battled originally to help them defeat a goblin army.

Branagh’s film adaptation was originally slated for release last August, until Disney’s merger with 150 Th Century Fox prompted a major reshuffling of planned releases. Unlike (The New Mutants) , however, there were no rumors (confirmed or otherwise) of reshoots requested for Artemis Fowl. So the studio doesn’t seem to have any issues With the actual film, which Branagh has described as an origin story.

Per the official premise:

[The film] follows the journey of – year-old genius Artemis Fowl, a descendant of a long line of criminal masterminds, as he seeks to find his father who has mysteriously disappeared. With the help of his loyal protector Butler, Artemis sets out to find him, and in doing so uncovers an ancient, underground civilization — the amazingly advanced world of fairies. Deducing that his father’s disappearance is somehow connected to the secretive, reclusive fairy world, cunning Artemis concocts a dangerous plan — so dangerous that he ultimately finds himself in a perilous war of wits with the all-powerful fairies.

The next criminal mastermind       

      

            

                                                                     

                      Criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl I (Colin Farrell) has groomed his son Artemis Fowl II (Ferdia Shaw) to follow in his footsteps.