Last year, Disney‘s “Artemis Fowl” was scheduled to hit theaters August 9, 2019. That obviously changed and the movie—based on the beloved YA fantasy novel by Eoin Colfer is now hitting theaters eight months later in May. That’s a pretty big push, but Disney has set a much more summer-friendly date for the film, so maybe reshoots or whatever the problem was, helped.
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Directed by Kenneth Branagh, who has a difficult directorial career to pin down (recent films include “Thor” and “Murder On The Orient Express“) “Artemis Fowl” centers on Artemis Fowl II (Ferdia Shaw), a young Irish criminal mastermind who kidnaps the fairy LEPrecon officer Captain Holly Short (Lara McDonnell) for ransom to fund the search for his missing father in order to restore the family fortune.
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Yeah, I suppose that doesn’t mean a lot of if you haven’t read the book. Maybe the official synopsis helps a bit:
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Disney’s “Artemis Fowl,” is a fantastical, spellbinding adventure that follows the journey of 12-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
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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.
Eoin Colfer doesn’t seem that concerned with the delays. “Disney and Kenneth Branagh have magically found a way to extract my imagination, mixed in a dollop of Disney magic and projected the enchanted concoction onto the silver screen. I am very excited for audiences to see the film,” he said in a statement, happy with the finished product.
“Artemis Fowl” stars Ferdia Shaw, Lara McDonnell, Josh Gad, Tamara Smart, Nonso Anozie, Josh McGuire, Nikesh Patel, Adrian Scarborough and Miranda Raison, with Colin Farrell and Judi Dench. Conor McPherson and Hamish McColl wrote the screenplay and Disney’s “Artemis Fowl” finally opens in U.S. theaters on May 29.
