Constantin Film picks up rights for Cassandra Clare & Holly Black fantasy books

PanARMENIAN.Net - Cassandra Clare and Holly Black are behind the popular book series The Mortal Instruments and The Spiderwick Chronicles, respectively, and are now collaborating on the fantasy series picked up by German indie Constantin Film. The first book will be titled The Iron Trial, Deadline reported.

Scholastic has North American publishing rights to the series that marks the first team-up for the authors, whose books have collectively sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.

The plot centers on 12-year-old Callum Hunt, who has grown up knowing three rules by heart: Never trust a magician, never pass a test a magician gives you, and never let a magician take you to the Magisterium. When he breaks all those rules, his life changes in ways he can’t possibly imagine. Clare and Black will adapt the screenplay and executive produce.

Constantin developed Clare’s Mortal Instruments into a feature film starring Lily Collins and Jamie Campbell-Bower that is due out in August 2013 and is being eyed as a franchise for Screen Gems. Paramount released an adaptation of Spiderwick Chronicles in 2008 that grossed $71.2 million domestically and $162.8 million globally.

The Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith Vein reps the writers on the film side. On the literary side, Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency reps Clare and Barry Goldblatt Literary reps Black.