MarVista Picks Up Film Based on Lois Leppard Book Series

LOS ANGELES: MarVista Entertainment has acquired the worldwide distribution rights for the feature film Mandie and the Secret Tunnel, the first movie in a series based on the books of the same name by Lois Leppard.

Through the deal with Lost World Pictures, MarVista will license the rights to Mandie and the Secret Tunnel internationally. The company also secures the option to acquire the remaining four movies. The second movie in the series, Mandie and Cherokee Treasure, is currently in development and will be completed this year. There are some 40 books in Leppard’s Mandie series, with more than 7 million copies in print.

“We are delighted to announce our relationship with Lost World pictures, and to introduce the world to the movies featuring the beloved characters of the incredibly popular Mandie book series,” commented Fernando Szew, the CEO of MarVista Entertainment. “As a distributor of family entertainment programming, we are known to provide quality entertainment in this genre, and anticipate strong demand from broadcasters and home-entertainment distributors across the globe when we unveil Mandie and the Secret Tunnel at MIPTV.”

MarVista will launch Mandie and the Secret Tunnel to the international market at MIPTV.