Elizabeth Banks in Negotiations to Direct Adaptation of ‘Red Queen’

After co-starring and producing Pitch Perfect 2, Elizabeth Banks may be shifting her attention towards the YA movie adaptation of Red Queen

Pitch Perfect 2, Elizabeth Banks’ debut into the world of directing, collected around $70 million domestic, putting her second on the list of top openings for female directors.  Domestically, the movie made $161 million, while worldwide counts totaled over $250 million.  With her first production a success, Banks plans to move on to Red Queen, a Young Adult novel written by Victoria Aveyard.  Red Queen would take the previous actress a major step up as far ared queens budget and visual effects are concerned.

With Elizabeth Banks a possibility as director, Christopher Cosmos will be involved as a co-producer, with Jake Weiner, Chris Bender, JC Spink, and Pouya Shahbazian (Divergent) as producers.  The script for Red Queen has been written by Gennifer Hutchison, most known for her work on the television show Breaking Bad.

Red Queen author Victoria Aveyard, a 2012 USC grad, scored a three book deal and a film option by Universal long before the book’s release.  The acquisition of a book contract and the purchase of its film rights both occurred in the same week, giving Aveyard plenty of reason to celebrate.

About RED QUEEN:

Graceling meets The Selection in debut novelist Victoria Aveyard’s sweeping tale of seventeen-year-old Mare, a common girl whose once-latent magical power draws her into the dangerous intrigue of the king’s palace. Will her power save her or condemn her?

Mare Barrow’s world is divided by blood—those with common, Red blood serve the Silver- blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman abilities. Mare is a Red, scraping by as a thief in a poor, rural village, until a twist of fate throws her in front of the Silver court. Before the king, princes, and all the nobles, she discovers she has an ability of her own.

To cover up this impossibility, the king forces her to play the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard—a growing Red rebellion—even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction. One wrong move can lead to her death, but in the dangerous game she plays, the only certainty is betrayal.

(source)