Lionsgate has hired “Alice Through the Looking Glass” director James Bobin to helm its science-fiction film “The Punch Escrow”, Variety said.

The studio won the movie rights to Tal M. Klein’s upcoming debut novel in April. “The Punch Escrow” will be published on July 25 by Inkshares.

The story — set in the year 2147 — centers on a man who trains artificial-intelligence engines to act more human-like, and is accidentally duplicated while teleporting. He’s forced to deal with the dubious organization that controls teleportation in a world that now has two of him.

Inkshares is based in Oakland, Calif., and publishes books based on reader interest. Once a book crosses one of the publishing thresholds (250 pre-orders for the light publishing tier or 750 pre-orders for the full funding tier), it then moves into production. The fully-funded tier gets editing, design, printing, distribution, and marketing of the book.

Bobin was one of the creators of the TV series “Flight of the Conchords” and made his feature directorial debut on Disney’s “The Muppets.” He also wrote and directed the 2014 sequel, “Muppets Most Wanted.”