L.A.-based MarVista Entertainment has acquired the worldwide distribution rights to the feature film Mandie and the Secret Tunnel, based on Lois Leppard’s novel of same name, from Lost World Pictures.

Under the terms of the agreement, MarVista will license the rights to Mandie and the Secret Tunnel across the globe, and secures the option to acquire the remaining four movies for which Lost World’s producer/director team Owen Smith and Joy Chapman own the rights. The second movie in the series, Mandie and the Cherokee Treasure, is currently in development and will be completed this year. Mandie and the Secret Tunnel will debut to the international market at MIPTV.

During her career, Lois Leppard authored 40 books in the Mandie series, with over seven million copies in print. The series is set in the early 1900’s where Mandie encounters adventure and solves mysteries with help from her friends, family, and pet cat Snowball.

In Mandie and the Secret Tunnel, Mandie Shaw’s Cherokee friends guide the way through North Carolina’s treacherous Blue Ridge Mountains to her Uncle John’s extravagant mansion, only to discover that his ship has been lost at sea. And when strangers arrive claiming to be heirs to Uncle John’s fortune, Mandie and her friends find themselves in a race through hidden passageways. Driven by stories her father used to tell, Mandie scrambles to piece together clues and outwit imposters before they steal her future, only to discover a magnificent surprise from her past.