According to The Hollywood Reporter Sony have backed out of producing the adaptation of James Patterson’s MAXIMUM RIDE series and instead Universal are trying for the rights. They want to adapt the fantasy novels for the big screen and have Catherine Hardwicke (TWILIGHT, THE GIRL WITH THE RED RIDING HOOD) lined up to direct.
MAXIMUM RIDE is a series of six young adult science fiction/fantasy books which chronicle the lives of six human/avian fugitives. Bred in a science lab called ‘The School’, the Flock endured scientific experiments that rendered them 98% human and 2% avian. After learning to fly, they escape the laboratory where they’ve been kept and flee a pack of human/wolf beings known as the Erasers.
Universal have hired Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (IRON MAN) to write the script, which Sony had ditched as it got in the way of their SPIDER-MAN reboot, and Universal’s Tracy Falco and Franklin Leonard will be overseeing the project for the studio. I can’t say this project incites much interest for me but it’s sure to sell well to teenagers eager for the next TWILIGHT-type craze.