Warner Bros. optioned the screenplay and greenlit the film in 1973. The screenplay by Hampton Fancher was optioned in 1977. Betts was optioned back to Pawtucket in August, and recalled again on August 18. It has also been optioned for a feature adaptation by Thruline Entertainment. His popular novel series Xanth has been optioned for movies. In July 2017, the rights had been optioned for a potential film adaptation. Later, Wilcox optioned "Flipper" and was the executive producer of that movie for Universal Pictures. As such, the Snicket books had been optioned to be filmed before they were published. Eventually, Currie optioned it through his production company and completed the picture. In 1992, producer James Hill optioned the rights and selected Phil Joanou to direct. The adaptation began development as a film optioned by Universal Pictures in 2011. In 2013, HBO optioned the film rights. Originally, Robin Williams had optioned the book and invited Gus Van Sant to adapt it. The script had been optioned but remained in development hell for years. The novel was optioned for the movies.