Anne McCaffrey's fantasy stories could be a new franchiseYou might think that Warner Bros. would have enough to deal with, Dragon-wise, between the Hobbit trilogy’s Smaug and the developing Harry Potter Fantastic Beasts spin-off. But the studio clearly thinks dragons can become a big success, snapping up the rights to Anne McCaffrey’s long running and massively bestselling Dragonriders Of Pern novel series.McCaffrey’s book range, which kicked off in 1968 with Dragonflight (itself a conglomeration of two novellas) has now expanded to include follow-on novels and two short story collections explores the world of Pern, a blend of pre-industrial feudal society that features Weyrfolk, some whom bond with dragons and team with them to fight off threats.The biggest problem for Pern’s inhabitants is the Thread, a pernicious spore that rains down on the planet from the rogue world known as the Red Star and consumes organic matter.