Universal Pictures bought the film rights to Philip Reeve’s bestselling steampunk novel Mortal Engines. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit director Peter Jackson is set to co-write and produce Mortal Engines movie adaptation.
Mortal Engines is the first of a four-book series set in a post-apocalyptic world where cities roam the earth on tracks, hunting smaller towns for fuel and spare parts. The first novel follows Tom Natsworthy, a young apprentice who finds himself thrown from London and forced to journey across bare land alongside Hester Shaw, a young assassin with a terrible secret.
The novel will be adapted for the big screen by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson. Jackson, Walsh, Zane Weiner, Amanda Walker and Deborah Forte will produce, with Boyens onboard as a co-producer. Christian Rivers is set to direct the feature.
Mortal Engines is available now.
