Laurence King Publishing to produce two new gifts for the forthcoming The Amazing Maurice film

Philip Contos, Commissioning Editor for Gift at Laurence King Publishing, part of The Orion Publishing Group, has acquired rights to produce a 250-piece jigsaw puzzle and children’s matching card game to accompany the release on Sky Cinema of The Amazing Maurice later this year.

The film – produced by Cantilever Media and Ulysses Filmproduktion in co-production with Sky – is based on Terry Pratchett’s novel The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (2001), the first Discworld novel for children, which won the Carnegie Medal in 2001.

The forthcoming Sky Original production features Maurice, a streetwise tom cat who comes up with a money-making scam by befriending a group of talking rats. When Maurice and the rodents reach the stricken town of Bad Blintz, they meet a bookworm called Malicia and their scheme soon goes down the drain.

The film features the voices of Hugh Laurie, Emilia Clarke, David Thewlis, Himesh Patel and Gemma Arterton, among others.

Philip Contos says: “I’m thrilled to be working on these games to help kids enjoy the world of the The Amazing Maurice, Bad Blintz, and the rat king. It’s the first-ever animated feature film based on a novel by Terry Pratchett and it’s a fantastic way of introducing younger audiences to his work.

“I watched the rough cut with my 7-year-old and he loved it, in spite of the fact that it was only a third finished. It’s like a cross between Ratatouille and Robin Hood, with the spirited Malicia as narrator giving lots of hilarious asides direct to camera. I can’t wait to see the finished film and it’s going to be so much fun exploring the world of the novel further in the jigsaw puzzle and matching game.”

The jigsaw and game will both be priced at £12.99 and are suitable for children aged 6+ and their families.