The new way to get a supernatural movie made in Hollywood is to tell a studio executive that it’s “Like Twilight meets…”. It doesn’t matter what Twilight is meeting, as once you’ve mentioned that movie, you’re set.
Dreamworks has picked up the rights to the Wicked series of books (which has nothing to do with the Oz-set musical) that are, according to THR, “Twilight meets Wanted with witchcraft”. See, they even got Wanted in there for extra cool point.
The novels, written by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie, are about teenager Holly Cathers, who moves in with an aunt after her parents die and gets drawn into a dark world of secrets and magic when she discovers she may be a witch. She also falls for a boy from a rival coven, to give it that extra Twilight-style romance angle.
Dreamworks bought the adaptation rights based on a pitch by writers Aaron and Matthew Benay. The studio also obviously saw the potential for a Twilight-style franchise, as there are five Wicked books – Witch, Curse, Legacy, Spellbound, and Resurrection. The Benays will start work on the supernatural script once they’ve finished up on 1906, the live action project from Pixar, which will be directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille) and is about the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.