Kiki's Delivery Service Gets First Live-Action TV
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- BBC Studios Kids & Family announced a three-way partnership with U.K. production company Wheel in Motion and Japan's Kadokawa Corporation to develop a live-action television series based on Eiko Kadono's novel "Kiki's Delivery Service" — the property's first live-action TV treatment.
- The series is planned as 10 half-hour episodes, drawn primarily from the first volume of Kadono's six-book series, which follows 13-year-old witch Kiki as she relocates to the port town of Koriko to set up a delivery service.
- Irena Brignull is attached to write the series; her screen credits include the Oscar-nominated "The Boxtrolls," Sky's "Skellig" and Netflix's "The Little Prince."
- The project marks the 40th anniversary of a book series that has sold millions of copies worldwide since its 1985 publication by Fukuinkan Shoten Publishers.
- Studio Ghibli previously brought the novel to screen in 1989 as an anime feature directed by Miyazaki Hayao, the adaptation that defined the property's global profile.
- Author Eiko Kadono, a Hans Christian Andersen Award winner, endorsed the project, saying "Kiki is about to set off on another adventure into a new world" and expressing confidence in the U.K. creative team.
Why it matters: The first-ever live-action TV take on a 40-year-old, multimillion-copy Japanese franchise gives BBC Studios and Wheel in Motion a globally recognizable family property to anchor a 10-episode series, while giving Kadokawa a new international television lane beyond the iconic 1989 Studio Ghibli anime — with the author publicly blessing the adaptation to smooth rights and fan reception.
