Jeff Waynes The War of the Worlds Coming To Concert, Stage, TV, and Cinema!

By Anthony Pearson Aug 22, 2005, 17:45 GMT

Twenty-seven years after Jeff Wayne's "Musical Version of 'The War of the Worlds' " was first released, Jeff Wayne Music Group has sealed a deal with China's M-Star Intl. Culture & Media Co. to finance and co-produce an $18 million theatrical "TWOTW" show.

It is expected to open in China for the Chinese New Year 2007, in advance of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and then embark on a world tour.

The deal also includes a 26-part animated TV series based on Wayne's musical version of "TWOTW."

"The large-scale show is somewhere between a rock concert and very large-scale theater," Wayne said, noting that the plan is to have five Martian fighting machines as tall as 30 feet, a handling and flying machine, the Thunder Child frigate and a number of other special effects. The show will follow the album and additionally include a prequel that shows Mars suffering from severe ecological problems that force the Martians to leave the planet. Richard Burton's original performance will be brought back to life in holographic form.

More in the works

The show is just one of a multitude of projects tied to Wayne's musical version of "TWOTW," which Sony BMG (Sony Legacy in the U.S.) re-launched worldwide in June. The album is enjoying its 10th week back in the U.K. top-10 album charts -- selling more than Oasis and Gorillaz -- bringing its overall tally to more than 290 weeks.

Album has now sold more than 13 million records worldwide as well as topping the charts in several other countries. It went gold in the U.S. on its initial release and has spawned a vast range of merchandise, including three videogames (including for the PC and PlayStation formats).

Additionally, Clear Channel Entertainment and SJM have just inked a concert tour in the U.K. beginning in April 2006 in which Wayne will conduct the work with a symphonic string orchestra and solo vocalists. Venues include London's Royal Albert Hall as well as various arenas around the U.K. Marketing the tour will begin in mid-September with sponsors also to be announced.

Dark Horse EntertainmentDark Horse Entertainment, which recently unveiled at Comic-Con a line of limited-edition statues based on the album artwork, is partnering on a comicbook with Wayne and music group managing director Damian Collier.

Dark Horse also is expected to assist on Wayne's forthcoming CGI film, which 16 U.K. animators have been working on since October. Wayne estimated that it will be three years before it is ready; it's timed to be released approximately 18 months after the airing of the first episode of its TV series.

In the mid-1970s, Wayne and his father Jerry acquired from H.G. Wells' estate all rights associated with "The War of the Worlds" (other than the right to reprint the novel, which remained with the estate, and the film rights, which were bought by Paramount in 1953).

'Worlds' trade

Last year, Collier and Paramount made an amicable swap -- the studio received a license for the non-exclusive right to merchandise its 2005 feature and make a soundtrack album, and Wayne received a free license to develop a film and TV series based on his musical version. Wayne's version of "TWOTW" has always been set in late-1890s Victorian England, keeping true to Wells' storyline and characters.

The background to the new relaunch is that two Sony BMG London execs approached Wayne in late 2002 to help prepare a 25th-anniversary edition of "The War of the Worlds," but once the ideas were kicked around the projects grew, including remixes in stereo and 5.1 surround sound. "We over-ran by a mere two years, creating perhaps the first 27th-anniversary edition in the history of the record industry," Wayne joked.

One of the new projects includes a collector's edition of Wayne's musical version of "TWOTW," which includes six CDs, a making-of DVD and an 80-page hardbacked book in an LP-sized package. Included in the book is a letter from Steven SpielbergSteven Spielberg, dated Nov. 23, 1979, stating that the album would "make a unique and visionary film" but that he was too busy to consider it.

Source: Variety

For more info on all these upcoming projects visit our network site Eve of the War Here