As the movie business scrambles to discover the next Twilight, the long-gestating film adaptation of Lauren Kate's Fallen is gaining momentum, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Australian filmmaker Scott Hicks -- who earned Oscar nominations for writing and directing 1996's Shine -- is in final negotiations to direct Fallen for Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray's Mayhem Pictures and IF Entertainment, Bill Johnson's new financing and sales entity.

Fallen is the first in a series of four books, which have sold nearly 10 million copies worldwide in more than 30 countries. Kathryn Price and Nicole Millard penned the adapted screenplay in what Mayhem and IF Entertainment hope is the beginning of a franchise.

Billed as a Southern gothic supernatural romance, Fallen revolves around 17-year-old Lucinda "Luce" Price, who is sent to a reform school in Savannah, Ga., after she is accused of starting a fire that leaves a young boy dead. Soon, Luce finds herself in the middle of a love triangle – courting two young men with dark secrets of their own.

On a quest to uncover secrets from her past, the shy Luce discovers the two are fallen angels, competing for her love for centuries. Luce must choose where her feelings lie, pitting heaven against hell in an epic battle over true love.

Kate's books have been translated into more than 30 languages, with Fallen spending a year-plus on The New York Times best-seller list after its release in 2009. The three subsequent books -- Torment, Passion and Rapture -- also were best-sellers.