A couple weeks ago it looked like Paramount was going to own the film rights for Laini Taylor’s young adult novel, ‘Daughter of Smoke and Bone.’ In fact, it was reported that the studio was in negotiations and had offered $700,000 to adapt the book. Although a couple other studios had placed bids for the project, with the high amount that Paramount offered, many had thought the studio had it in the bag.
Were we wrong! In an press release today, Universal Pictures announced that they have acquired the rights swooping in and snagging it away from Paramount and other studios that were interested. Universal also boasted about the book’s accomplishments listing its various honors such as one of Amazon’s Top Ten Books of 2011, Amazon’s #1 Teen Book of 2011, a Publishers Weekly Best Books 2011, a Huffington Post Top 10 YA Book of 2011, and a New York Times Notable Children’s Books of 2011.
Author Laini Taylor gave a statement regarding the news saying, “My goal is always to write stories that readers will want to climb inside of and live in, and which – I hope – will allow them to just lose themselves in the page. It is a hugely thrilling prospect to think about Universal and filmmakers translating my world onscreen and giving it a second life in such a grand way. I’m over the moon.”
Taylor’s manager, Jane Putch, added “Taylor is a stunning visual writer, whose superbly developed characters shape a plot filled with intrigue, epic wars, love, betrayal and ‘teeth.’ I can’t wait to see her world on screen!”
‘Daughter of Smoke and Bone’ was released in September and is the first of a trilogy of books. The second installment is set to be released in September of next year.
With this acquisition, Universal hopes to fill the void that ‘Twilight’ will leave open once the final movie of the franchise is released next year. With the amount of buzz and excitement this book has garnered so far, it might do just that.
