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LOS ANGELES - Capping a bidding war among several major Hollywood studios, DreamWorks has teamed up with Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson to bring the best-selling novel The Lovely Bones to the big screen.
Jackson will direct the film from a screenplay he co-wrote with two Lord of the Rings collaborators, Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh, and the picture will begin shooting in October in Pennsylvania and in Jackson's native New Zealand, DreamWorks said in a statement.
The Lovely Bones tells the story of a woman, Susie Salmon, who is murdered but continues to watch over her family on Earth and see the impact her loss has on loved ones even as her killer covers his tracks and plans to strike again.
Published in 2002, Lovely Bones is the second novel by Alice Sebold, and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide, remaining on the New York Times hardback best-seller list for over a year.
The novel earned Sebold a Book of the Year Award for adult fiction from the American Booksellers Association in 2003.
DreamWorks landed rights to the book, considered one of Hollywood's most sought-after literary properties in recent years, following bids for the project from several rival studios.
No financial terms of the deal were disclosed, but a person familiar with the project said the film was budgeted for close to US$70 million.
Among the studios vying for the rights were Time Warner's Warner Bros. Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Universal Pictures, a unit of General Electric Co.-controlled NBC Universal, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Jackson won Oscars in 2004 for directing, producing and writing The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the third in his blockbuster trilogy of fantasy epics based on the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien.
His last film was a 2005 remake of the classic giant-ape adventure King Kong.
- REUTERS/Nielsen
