Patrick Ness to Adapt ‘Dallergut Dream Department Store’ Novels

A Monster Calls writer Patrick Ness has been tapped by Disney Live Action to turn The Dallergut Dream Department Store novels into a live-action movie set in a magical world.

Ness earlier created the 20th Century Studios prequel for 2003’s war-adventure epic Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, which starred Russell Crowe. For Disney Live Action, Ness will bring Korean author Miye Lee’s bestselling novels to the big screen as the first in a planned trilogy set in a magical world.

“Penny just landed her dream job: selling dreams to customers at the legendary Dallergut Dream Department Store. But when strange, dangerous things begin to happen to the sleeping clientele, Penny must uncover the mystery before the nightmare spreads beyond the store,” a synopsis from the producers states.

The Dallergut Dream Department Store books lead the charts in Korea, and have sold around 2 million copies in over 20 territories worldwide. Ness is the author of books for adults, young adults and children, including A Monster Calls and the Chaos Walking trilogy. 

He also created and wrote the eight-part BBC Doctor Who spinoff Class and has adapted two of his works for films. Ness’s novels include The Crash of Hennington, The Crane Wife, More Than This, The Rest of Us Just Live Here, Release, And the Ocean Was Our Sky, Burn, Different for Boys, his middle grade series Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody, and Piper at the Gates of Dusk, the first of The New World trilogy.

Jessica Virtue, executive vp of production, will oversee the book adaptation project for Disney Live Action.