Universal Lands Rights to Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Posted on December 14, 2011
Universal swooped in at the last minute and landed the rights to the young adult novel Daughter of Smoke and Bone. According to Deadline, Paramount dropped out of the negotiations because the author's agent Jane Putch wanted creative approvals for the film, as well as more money than Harry Potter, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo or The Hunger Games when the rights were first optioned to be a film. Now Universal has the property. Here's an excerpt from the press release:
Universal Pictures announced today that it has acquired the worldwide rights to the celebrated young adult fantasy novel Daughter of Smoke & Bone written by National Book Award Finalist Laini Taylor. A highly sought after property in Hollywood, the book was published this September and is the first in a trilogy. Universal's Co-Presidents of Production Peter Cramer and Jeff Kirschenbaum made the announcement.Author Laini Taylor says, "My goal is always to write stories that readers will want to climb inside of and live in, and which - I hope - will allow them to just lose themselves in the page. It is a hugely thrilling prospect to think about Universal and filmmakers translating my world onscreen and giving it a second life in such a grand way. I'm over the moon."Daughter of Smoke & Bone has been sold in over 25 countries so far to critical acclaim and has been one of the most well-received books of the year. Honors include an Amazon Top Ten Books of 2011, Amazon's #1 Teen Book of 2011, a Publishers Weekly Best Books 2011, a Huffington Post Top 10 YA Book of 2011, and a New York Times Notable Children's Books of 2011.
It's a fabulous book which we quite enjoyed. It's going to be expensive to film, however, with all the angels, wings and flying. Not to mention all the demons and different locations.