By Creative Media Times

Twenty years since Roald Dahl’s classic children’s novel was loosely adapted into a film comes a new adaptation with Robert Zemeckis attached to direct, Variety is reporting. The new film is said to be a more rooted to the source material.

Zemeckis, who is also writing the script, recently directed the war drama Allied (2016) and the biographical drama The Walk (2015). His latest fantasy film “Welcome to Marwen” starring Steve Carell and Leslie Mann is set for release later this year.

The latest adaptation from Warner Bros. is not all that surprising, especially for a beloved, well-known novel. The 1990 dark fantasy horror-comedy film from director Nicolas Roeg, with Anjelica Huston as the Grand High Witch, though well received by critics, disappointed at the box-office. Dahl himself is said to have reviled the film due its ending contrasting with his novel. The book was also previously adapted into a stage play.

The Witches novel follows a 7-year-old British boy and his Norwegian grandmother who run into real-life witches while staying in a hotel in England.

Considered “one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century,” Roald Dahl also wrote James and the Giant Peach, The BFG, Matilda, Fantastic Mr Fox, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, all of which were adapted into film.