The first book of the Illuminae novel trilogy, written by Australian authors Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, was only released last month, but Brad Pitt‘s production company Plan B Entertainment has already acquired the property for translation to the big screen. The trilogy is geared towards a Young Adult reading audience, but as we all know, books from that genre have tended to translate to big bucks for Hollywood. The Harry Potter, Hunger Games, and Twilight series have raked in the cash regardless of what one might think of their literary worthiness. (I’m not pointing fingers, but one of those is not like the others.)

Illuminae hopes to capitalize on the promising trend of young heroines helming successful franchises, such as Jennifer Lawrence‘s Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games. [Side note: check out the Nerdist review of the final installment of that film series.]

Illuminae is set roughly half a millennium in the future where:

the year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than a speck at the edge of the universe. Now with enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to evacuate with a hostile warship in hot pursuit. 

This is not Plan B’s first foray into sci-fi or novel-adapted territory. In the past, the company has produced The Time Traveler’s Wife, 2005’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Kick-Ass, and World War Z. I found the latter to be thoroughly enjoyable, even if it strayed mightily from the source material. The difference from page to film of World War Z should not leave you alarmed for the fate of Illuminae, however, as Plan B Entertainment has also successfully produced other adaptations of novels and memoirs like Moneyball, 12 Years a Slave and A Mighty Heart to great critical acclaim.

Pitt, along with Plan B partners Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, will be producing alongside Warner Bros. The futuristic tale does not have a theatrical release date as the deal is still very new. Stay tuned for further news about the film!

Do you plan to tune in to the futuristic film, or even start reading the series? Have you already read the first book? Share your thoughts below!

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HT Variety

Image: DOD News Features//Usage per Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons License