Brett Ratner is busy lining up projects, as only a couple of weeks ago he signed up to make a movie about Hercules, and now Deadline reports that he’s set to direct the long-gestating adaptation of The 39 Clues.
Dreamworks has been working on the film since September 2008, when screenwriter Jeff Nathanson was hired to adapt the young adult novel series. At the time, it was being developed as a possible vehicle for Steven Spielberg to direct. However, now Nathanson will reunite with Brett Ratner, who also wrote Tower Heist, which Ratner recently finished shooting.
The 39 Clues on the Cahill family, the most powerful family in the world, and the interactive book series offers clues to how they became so powerful. Scholastic Books developed the series into a multi-platform franchise, with trading cards, websites, and other online games which tie into the story. The 11th book installment was recently published, after the series’ initial launch in 2008.
Here’s the synopsis for the first book: ‘When their beloved Aunt Grace dies, Dan, 11, and Amy, 14 – along with other Cahill descendants – are faced with an unusual choice: inherit one million dollars or participate in a perilous treasure hunt. Cahills have determined the course of history for centuries, and this quests outcome will bring the victors untoward power and affect all of humankind. Against the wishes of nasty Aunt Beatrice, their reluctant guardian since their parents deaths, Dan and Amy accept the challenge, convincing their college-age au pair to serve as designated adult. Pitted against other Cahill teams, who will stop at nothing to win, the siblings decipher the first of 39 clues and are soon hot on the historical trail of family member Ben Franklin to unearth the next secret.’
There’ no news however on when The 39 Clues might shoot, or where it fits into Ratner’s increasingly busy diary.