Arthur (Besson book series)

Arthur

French cover for a box set containing the 4 novels.
Arthur et les Minimoys (2002) Arthur et la cité interdite (2003) Arthur et la vengeance de Maltazard (2004) Arthur et la guerre des deux mondes (2005)
Author	Luc Besson
Country	France
Language	French
Genre	Children Fantasy
Publisher	Éditions Intervista
Published	2002-2005
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback) Audiobook E-book
No. of books	4

The Arthur series refers to a series of fantasy novels for children written by Luc Besson, a film director and producer, and published from 2002 to 2005 in France, the United States and the United Kingdom.

This term also refers to the feature films based on them, which Besson wrote, produced and directed. The films were made and released from 2006 to 2010, in France, the UK and the US. The series has also been produced in video game format.

Novels

The four novels were originally published in France by Intervista. Later reissues by Le Livre de Poche have dropped the "Arthur et" part of the titles.

1. Arthur et les Minimoys (2002, literally and in English as Arthur and the Minimoys)
2. Arthur et la cité interdite (2003, literally and in English as Arthur and the Forbidden City)
3. Arthur et la vengeance de Maltazard (2004, literally "Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard")
4. Arthur et la guerre des deux mondes (2005, literally "Arthur and the War of the Two Worlds")

Only the first two books have been published in English (translator: Ellen Sowchek) by HarperCollins in the United States and Faber and Faber in the United Kingdom. These two were reissued in one volume in 2007 by the latter publisher as Arthur and the Invisibles.

Films

Arthur
Based on	Arthur by Luc Besson
Produced by	Luc Besson Emmanuel Prévost (1-3) Stéphane Lecomte (2-3) Fanny Besson (4)
Production companies	EuropaCorp (1-3) Avalanche Productions (1-3) Apipoulaï Prod (1-3) Canal+ (1-3) TF1 Films Production (2-3) Luc Besson Productions (4) Kinology (4) Cofinova 17 (4)
Distributed by	EuropaCorp Apollo Films (4)
Release date	2006–2022
Country	France
Languages	English (1-3) French (4)
Budget	Total (3 films): $185 million
Box office	Total (3 films): $217.2 million

1. Arthur and the Invisibles (2006) (also known as Arthur and the Minimoys), based on the two books Arthur et les Minimoys and Arthur et la cité interdite.
2. Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard (2009), based on Arthur et la vengeance de Maltazard.
3. Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds (2010), based on Arthur et la guerre des deux mondes.
4. Arthur, malédiction (2022) (literally translated to be Arthur, curse), a standalone spin-off psychological horror film which many consider to be one of the worst films ever made.

The second and third installments, which were made back-to-back, have a directly continuous storyline but, in English version only, differ somewhat in the casting of the voice-only roles.

Video games

Video games for the popular consoles of the time have been released alongside the first two films. The Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard games have been distributed in the United Kingdom and under that name despite the film not being so.

• Arthur and the Invisibles (Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2)
• Arthur and the Invisibles (Nintendo DS)
• Arthur and the Invisibles (Game Boy Advance)
• Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard (Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii)
• Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard (Nintendo DS)

Television series

An animated TV series, Arthur and the Minimoys, was produced by Studio 100, and debuted in 17 July 2018. A 20-episode web series was also being planned.

Other media

• Arthur and the Invisibles: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
• A "4-D film", Arthur: L'Aventure 4D, has been an attraction at Futuroscope.
• In June 2014, the Europa-Park theme park in Rust, Germany was opened as Arthur – The Ride, an inverted-spinning dark ride based on the Arthur movies and characters. The ride includes audio-animatronics and projected footage from the films. The ride's cost was €25 million.