Sony Pictures Entertainment has optioned film rights to David Baldacci’s upcoming fantasy novel “The Finisher.”
Matt Tolmach (“The Amazing Spider-Man”) will produce the movie.
Story follows 14 year-old Vega Jane who lives in the village of Wormwood, beyond which nothing exists except for the Quag, a forest filled with terrifying beasts. When her mentor disappears, Vega is left a secret message hinting that there’s a way out of Wormwood, and something extraordinary on the other side. As Vega begins to investigate, she realizes that Wormwood is a village built on dangerous lies and that powerful people are willing to kill in order to keep it that way. Is she destined to discover the truth or die trying?
Scholastic Press will publish “The Finisher” in the U.S. in March 2014. Baldacci (“Absolute Power”) is a NY Times bestselling author whose books have sold over 110 million copies worldwide.
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The deal was closed by Columbia Pictures production president Hannah Minghella and production VP Lauren Abrahams, with Aaron Priest at The Aaron M. Priest Literary Agency and Lucy Stille at Paradigm.
Columbia’s New York-based book scout Mark James brought the project to the studio’s attention.
Kate Checchi will oversee for Matt Tolmach Productions, which is currently producing Robbie Pickering’s genre movie “The Kitchen Sink.”
Baldacci’s novel “Absolute Power” was adapted for the big screen in 1997 by director Clint Eastwood, who starred opposite Gene Hackman, Ed Harris and Laura Linney. Baldacci also produced an upcoming feature adaptation of his book “Wish You Well,” which stars Ellen Burstyn, Josh Lucas and Mackenzie Foy.