A FORMER North Yorkshire bobby-turned author is becoming the toast of Hollywood – before the first film of his work has even been screened.

The multi-million dollar Mariah Mundi and the Midas Box is still in post-production but advance word is so good that a sequel has already been given the green light.

However in true Yorkshire style author Graham Taylor is keeping his feet firmly on the ground - and instead of flying out to Los Angeles this weekend he will be concentrating on his work with schools closer to home.

Graham, writing as GP Taylor, shot to fame ten years ago when his first book, Shadowmancer, became a huge success despite first being published privately.

A former bobby in Northallerton, he was a vicar in Scarborough when his life changed almost overnight and he has since seen his books translated into 51 languages and sold in their millions worldwide.

And now it is hoped his Mariah Mundi series could become a franchise to rival those of Harry Potter, Twilight and the Hunger Games at the box office.

Budgeted at around $25m (DOLLARS), the Midas Box was filmed at locations in Cornwall, Bath and Bristol among others and is due to be released next year.

Director Jonathan Newman’s big name cast includes Sam Neill, Michael Sheen, Ioan Gruffudd and Lena Headey with Aneurin Barnard taking on the title role.

Producer Peter Bevan said: “The decision to greenlight a sequel has been very much based upon how happy we are with the first movie as it comes together, and reactions from test audiences.”

The yet-to-be-named sequel will be based on the soon-to-be-published fourth book in the series and is likely to be filmed in more exotic locales, including South Africa and India.

At his home near Robin Hood’s Bay, Mr Taylor admitted he was “enormously excited” by the developments but would be concentrating on his creative writing work with children over the next week.

“I have actually seen some of the clips from the film and I’m very impressed but the school work is very important to me,” he said.

He is part of a newly-formed film production company, members of which are heading to Hollywood this weekend regarding a separate project, currently under wraps, to be shot in the North-East.

In the movie Barnard plays the 17-year-old Mariah, whose world is torn apart by the disappearance of his parents and the kidnapping of his younger brother.

In the first adventure, he teams up with Sheen’s Will Charity and journeys to a majestic hotel teetering on the edge of a cliff where he finds an extraordinary box that turns everyday objects into gold.