The Thief Lord

Orphaned brothers Prosper and Bo run away from the aunt who has taken them in and wants to separate them, travelling to Venice, the city their late mother loved. There they fall in with a gang of street children living in an abandoned cinema, led by a bold, secretive boy known as the Thief Lord, who keeps the group fed through thefts from the wealthy. A detective begins tracing the brothers, and a commission from a mysterious client sends the children to an island in the lagoon, where they encounter a secret that changes their situation.

The Thief Lord was released in 2006 and runs 98 minutes. It is a family adventure with fantasy and science-fiction elements, made across Germany, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, the United States and Japan by Warner Bros. Pictures, Future Films, Thema Production and Delux Productions. Richard Claus directed, and wrote the screenplay with Daniel Musgrave; Carola Ash, Claus and John Buchanan produced. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Prosper and Jasper Harris plays Bo, with Rollo Weeks as Scipio, Alice Connor as Hornet, George MacKay as Riccio and Jim Carter as Victor.

The film was the first that Claus directed, ahead of The Little Vampire 3D, Ainbo: Spirit of the Amazon and Panda Bear in Africa, making it the start of a four-film directing career. Against a budget of 2 million US dollars, it took about 5 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 5.9/10 from around 6,400 votes, and on TMDB 6/10 from 198 votes. A critics' rating of 5.4/10 from six reviews sits close to those audience scores.