Hellraiser Creator Clive Barker Could Have Been Disney's Next Big Thing

For every completed film or TV project associated with Clive Barker, there are probably 10 that never saw the light of day. Barker, for those unfamiliar, is the author behind the books "The Great and Secret Show," "Imajica," and "Weaveworld," each of them sprawling, interdimensional fantasy epics full of horror, queerness, sex, and violence. In 1986, Barker wrote the novella "The Hellbound Heart," which he adapted into the feature film "Hellraiser" the following year. Barker also wrote and directed the 1990 film "Night Breed" (based on his 1988 novella "Cabal") and the 1995 film "Lord of Illusions." He also wrote the short story that inspired "Candyman."

A look back over Barker's career, however (handily laid out on the author's website), reveals a spate of films and TV projects that were not made. There was a plan, once upon a time, to adapt his 1992 novel "The Thief of Always" to film. Those who have read the novel might mark its myriad similarities to Neil Gaiman's novel "Coraline" from a decade later, and the subsequent film that likely stole any thunder "The Thief" might have had. There was once a plan to adapt Barker's line of action figures, called "Tortured Souls." Barker once signed on to produce a movie inspired by the 1997 New Times article, "Myths Over Miami," written by Lynda Edwards. 

Other failed projects include a feature film based on Barker's comic book "EctoKid," a film of his story "Down, Satan," and sequels to "Night Breed" and "The Midnight Meat Train." Many others remain planned.

One stalled Barker project towers above all the others, however. In 2000, Disney agreed to make an expensive, epic cross-media franchise based on Barker's planned five-books series of Y.A. novels called "Abarat."

Disney's plan wasn't small, and Disney representative Michael Mendenhall told Variety that "Abarat" was, essentially, going to be Disney's Next Big Thing. Mendenhall even seemed to imply that "Abarat" could expand from feature films into TV and even into Disneyland rides:

"[What drew Disney to the deal was] that the theatrical property could be developed with so many different creative executions: interactive games, TV animation, live-action TV, theme park rides, music, and reproduction of the art from the film. For us, this is a way to develop creative content that will be fresh for years to come. On this project, Clive clearly has a creative direction that's very in line with our studio."

Barker, as his fans know, is not necessarily known for creating audience-friendly fare. The lion's share of Barker's writing output is devoted to horror, and extraordinarily bloody horror at that; this is the man behind "Hellraiser" and "Candyman," after all. Despite Barker's reputation, Disney did not balk. Mendenhall was all-in on the project. 

Given the broad, fantastical nature of "Abarat," a feature film was going to require state-of-the-art special effects. One character sported antlers with the heads of his seven brothers living in them. The villain's face was half-submerged in liquid. There were to be a lot of scenes aboard ships and on beaches. Myriad fantasy creatures were to be seen everywhere. The second book would see a sailing vessel infiltrating a flooding Chickentown. This was no modest endeavor. This was going to be Disney's "Lord of the Rings."

While Barker set to work writing the "Abarat" books, Disney got to work on a film production. The first "Abarat" book was published in September of 2002, which, it seems, was meant to coincide more closely with a film release. Judging by what Mendenhall told to Publisher's Weekly in 2001, the film was bigger than initially anticipated, and the special effects were going to require a lot more work. He also suddenly seemed mysteriously concerned with the company brand. Mendenhall said, even prior to the publication of "Abarat," that the film was delayed:

"The reason [for the delay] is that we may want to push our film-making technology. If it were to be a combination of live-action and CGI, it's a minimum of three or four years to come out with a really fantastic property. Not all of the people he's painted will be a part of the movie, or a part of any other ancillary product that's created off of this. We will not do anything to damage the Disney brand, ever. We were so thrilled to get this project, Spielberg and Katzenberg and Fox and everybody were trying to get it. Everyone was pulling out all the stops. But we didn't razzle-dazzle. We basically went back and presented what our assets were, what our company would do and how we would do it."

These words are ominous. "How we would do it" implies that studio interference is nigh, and that higher-ups may be getting cold feet. As for Mendenhall's claim that Spielberg wanted to make an "Abarat" film, one might not be able to find any substantiation.

Years would pass, and no "Abarat" movie would be made

One of the main reasons seems to have been a change in management at Disney. One can comb through showbiz history and find any number of abandoned projects that new management regimes intentionally shelved, merely because they ere left over from the previous administration. Barker — in a 2007 interview with Bloody Disgusting, archived on the author's website, recalled the firing, the confusion from the company, and a very bad deal. He said: 

"I pulled it away from Disney because to be very honest I did that deal because I was working with two men who I liked immensely and they swore to me they were not going anywhere and of course two months later they were gone. I watched as the Disney organization plodded its way through bouncing this thing back and forth not knowing what to do with it. Meanwhile I turned in a second book, which only confused them even more."

Barker clearly wanted out, a feeling that was validated when Disney offered to keep the "Abarat" project alive for several more years ... without paying him a dime. Barker said: 

"There just came a point where last September their time was up with the option and it was time for them to come up with a number on the table to keep the material for a decent amount of time. Their lawyer came to us and said 'We're Disney, Clive's very lucky to be with us and here is what we propose: Rather than paying you X amount and keeping the material for another two years, we keep it for four years and pay you nothing'. And I said 'Go f*** yourself.'"