LA-based publisher Stranger Comics is producing an animated film adaptation of a fantasy book in its catalogue called Brown Sugar Fairies: Saroja’s Quest, and Rob Edwards has been brought in to write, produce and direct it. 

Edwards wrote the scripts for animated Disney feature films Treasure Planet (2002) and The Princess and the Frog (2009), both of which were nominated for Best Animated Feature Oscars. His current work includes writing and directing an animated adventure-comedy pic for families about a pair of running shoes that have to find their way back together after a collector steals one of them. Briarcliff Entertainment is distributing Sneaks in North America, and it’s due to hit theaters on April 18, 2025. 

Targeting early readers, Brown Sugar Fairies: Saroja’s Quest (pictured) is about a 10-year-old girl who befriends a fairy searching for a flower that will save her magical world from environmental destruction caused by humans. But when Peppa’s grandfather becomes sick, they have to decide whether to use the flower to heal him or Saroja’s home. 

Written by Aiysha Sinclair and illustrated by Joyceline Furniss, the 72-page book was published in 2018. But it started a year earlier as an indie project for which Sinclair spearheaded a Kickstarter campaign that raised more than US$13,000. She and Stranger Comics president will produce the film together.