James Frey, the writer notorious for his not-quite-factual memoir A Million Little Pieces, just landed a $2 million deal with Fox for the movie rights to his upcoming young adult novel, Endgame. But how is Google involved in this Hunger Games-esque project?
Deadline reports that Fox nabbed the Endgame film rights for somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 million. Here's the pitch:
In a world similar to Earth, there are 12 bloodlines, or races. Each bloodline has a champion between the ages of 13 and 17 who is trained as a warrior and is always ready to do battle. When they turn 18, the teen warrior behind them gets promoted. This has been the case for hundreds of years, but no one remembers why — they're always ready for some sort of battle to take place, but it never does. But the tradition continues. And then one day they're called to fight, and all the bloodlines but the winners will be exterminated. They're fighting to be the last race.
Fellow NewsCorp company HarperCollins will be publishing the book, which is intended to be the first in the series. Frey's last foray into YA science fiction was I am Number Four and its sequels, which was based on an idea by Frey and seemed like it was begging to be turned into a movie — which it was. The feature film adaptation of I am Number Four wasn't well received, but given that Frey has seemed intent on churning out Hollywood-friendly books through his Full Fathom Five production company, it's not surprising that he's launching another book series intended for the screen. But as the LA Times notes, many folks are already accusing Frey of cynically piggybacking on the success of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games franchise, with those warriors from 12 bloodlines too closely evoking the battling Tributes from Collins' 12 Districts.
And what about Google? Deadling says, "Details will be forthcoming, but Google is involved." Are they getting into film production, or is this a sign that Frey is looking to add another medium to his transmedia fiction?
Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty.
Fox Takes James Frey's 'Endgame' In Year's First 7-Figure Deal With Google In The Mix [Deadline via LA Times]
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