For American fans of Joseph Delaney’s supernatural fantasy series, The Last Apprentice, the February 6 release of Seventh Son has been a very long time coming. The movie, which is based on the first book in the series (published by the U.K.’s Bodley Head in 2003 as The Spook’s Apprentice and in the U.S. as The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch by Greenwillow in 2006), was originally slated to hit theatres on February 15, 2013. Yet, due to post-production schedule changes, its release was moved to October 18, 2013. Then, following a split between Legendary Pictures and Warner Brothers, the film was delayed again, not premiering in Europe until December 2014. The film features an all-star cast, including Jeff Bridges as Master Gregory, a shadowy figure who wards off supernatural beings, and Julianne Moore as the powerful witch queen Mother Malkin. Ben Barnes stars as Tom Ward, the seventh son of a seventh son, who possesses mystical powers and apprentices with Master Gregory in order to fight the forces of darkness and defeat Mother Malkin. The Universal Pictures film is directed by Sergei Bodrov.
While The Last Apprentice may not hold the same blockbuster status as YA franchises such as The Hunger Games, Virginia Duncan, v-p and publisher of Greenwillow, told PW that the books have held strong, steady appeal for an audience of male and female readers, saying, “These books have many invested fans and have inspired a lot of fan fiction, art, and video. We’ve heard that while a lot of boys love them they are read by girls, too… anyone who loves fantasy.” Duncan also reported that “since we’ve been publishing new [Delaney] titles regularly for the past 10 years, we’re reaching an audience with a wide age range.” And the books are an in-house favorite: “Everyone at Greenwillow stays up all night reading when a new Delaney manuscript arrives,” she said. “We’ve been discussing Tom’s latest terrifying exploits at our weekly meetings for years. Needless to say, we can’t wait to see the movie!”
On the print and ebook fronts the Delaney library is ever-expanding. There are 13 titles in the series and, in addition, two short-story collections. The companion title, The Spook’s Bestiary: A Guide to Creatures of the Dark, was just rereleased in a paperback version containing art from the movie. A movie tie-in edition of Revenge of the Witch as well as the second title in the series, The Curse of the Bane, is available, and an ebook novella from HarperTeen Impulse, The Seventh Apprentice, was released earlier this month.
HarperCollins is also gearing up for the film’s U.S. premiere with robust social media campaigns, encouraging readers to read the first novel before seeing the film on the publisher’s Epic Reads platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, etc.).
A Formidable Head Start
Though the U.S. release is still a few weeks away, Seventh Son is thriving overseas, so far grossing $18.6 million across 24 territories. The movie held top spots for its opening weekend in Russia, Romania, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Legendary Pictures has also partnered with Chinese company Locojoy to promote a mobile game based on the movie.
Reviews of the movie trickling in from the U.K. have been mixed, with one suggesting that the film “doesn’t capture the pathos of the novels” and is “just not spooky enough.” But if the movie’s overseas box office success is any indication, the series launch will still likely scare up movie-goers and longtime series fans, come February.
