Films based on 'Chaos Walking' books planned

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Oct. 3 (UPI) -- U.S. production company Lionsgate says it has acquired the rights to Patrick Ness' "Chaos Walking" series of young adult novels.

The announcement was made Monday by Joe Drake, Lionsgate's co-chief operating officer and motion picture group president.

"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," Drake said in a statement. "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."

Doug Davison will be producing the "Chaos Walking" films, which are set in a dystopian future with humans colonizing a distant Earth-like planet, through his Quadrant Pictures.

"When an infection called the Noise suddenly makes all thought audible, privacy vanishes in an instant," a synopsis said. "In the ensuing chaos, a corrupt autocrat threatens to take control of the human settlements and wage war with the indigenous alien race, and only young Todd Hewitt holds the key to stopping planet wide-destruction."

Alli Shearmur, Lionsgate's president of motion picture production and development, who will be overseeing the production for the studio with Jim Miller, senior vice president of motion picture production, said she feels "privileged" to have the opportunity to bring "these powerful and exquisite books to cinematic life."

"Although these stories are set in a critical time in the future, they speak volumes about what is happening all over the world today, and about the power of young people to challenge the status quo and change the course of our future," Shearmur said in a statement.