Sir Peter Jackson's next film after The Hobbit trilogy will be an adaptation of the Phillip Reeve novel Mortal Engines.
The Braindead filmmaker will produce and co-write the film with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, while Christian Rivers will direct.
Mortal Engines has long been in development - it was published in 2001 and Sir Peter's manager Ken Kamins brought the project to MRC the same year.
Rivers is a protégé of Sir Peter and Walsh who started off as a storyboard artist, later moving into supervising visual effects and unit directing.
"Christian is one of my closest collaborators," says Sir Peter.
"The combination of emotion and jaw-dropping visuals in Mortal Engines makes this the perfect movie for his move into feature directing. What Christian intends to do with Philip Reeve's terrific story is going to result in an original and spectacular movie."
The book is set in a distant future where Earth's cities roam the globe on huge wheels, devouring each other in a struggle for ever diminishing resources. London's mayor has bigger plans than the domination of a small town and several young people try to stop him.
"Mortal Engines is one of those stories that was made for the big screen. A fantastical, futuristic world that has to be seen to be believed," says Rivers.
"At its heart though, it's a beautiful love story and a richly complex character driven adventure. To be the director who gets to bring Philip Reeve’s incredible universe to life is a dream come true."
Production will start on Mortal Engines in New Zealand next year.
Newshub.
