Italy’s Rainbow Group — the company behind the hit “Winx Club” animation franchise — has optioned the rights to adapt mythological saga “Game of Gods,” which has drawn millions of young adult readers on user-generated fiction platform Wattpad.
The “Game of Gods” film adaptation will be produced by Rainbow and its Colorado Film live action unit, in tandem with Wattpad Webtoon Studios as associate producer.
Colorado previously adapted Wattpad title “The Tearsmith” into a young adult hit for Netflix.
Set on the Yale University campus, “Game of Gods” blends suspense, romance and Greek mythology in a contemporary retelling of the myth of Hades and Persephone. The narrative involves a young female student named Haven who gets caught up in the Games of the Gods, “a mysterious ritual organized by the powerful and dangerous Lively brothers,” according to the synopsis.
The book series, by an Italian author whose pen name is Hazel Riley, drew more than 6.8 million readers on Wattpad in less than two years before the first volume “Game of Gods: Descent into Hell” was published in 2023 by Italian imprint Sperling & Kupfer. It became a top 10 bestseller in Italy, and the saga has since yielded two more popular installments: “Game of Titans: Ascent to Heaven” and “Game of Chaos: Ares.”
“After the success of ‘The Tearsmith,’ Wattpad has once again proved to be a source of great content, and ‘Game of Gods’ is a perfect example,” said Rainbow CEO Iginio Straffi in a statement. “The title has already shown incredible potential in the publishing and digital worlds and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to bring this beautiful story to life with the help of our great film division.”
