Today, as reported on Deadline.com, Patrick Ness finally agreed to allow his young adult series, ‘Chaos Walking’, to be adapted into films. The Carnegie Medal award winning books take place in a dystopian future on an earth-like planet humans have colonized. Because of an infection, all thoughts can be heard, so there is no privacy. The humans are not alone. When an autocrat threatens to destroy the native population and take over the planet, one young man, Todd Hewitt, fights for change.
What has attracted the studio to the novels, according to Lionsgate co-chief operating officer and Motion Picture Group chairman Joe Drake in the release announcing the deal is that “a sense of urgency and momentum permeates these stories — it makes the books ones you can’t put down, and will make the movies ones you can’t miss on the big screen. But apart from the story elements, the world in the stories is so vividly imagined. These are books, much like ‘The Hunger Games’, that we feel truly beg to be brought to life on film.”
Although there are currently three books in the series, Lionsgate has not announced if the studio will follow the “one book, one movie” rule ‘The Lord of the Rings’ series did. Lionsgate is also adapting Suzanne Collins’ ‘The Hunger Games’ series; her series is three books, but the studio has four films planned.
Doug Davison is set to produce. Davison has produced ‘The Departed’ and ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ and is currently producing ‘Oldboy’. No director, screenwriter, cast or release date has been announced.
