Warner Bros. wins bidding war for “Beautiful Disaster” novel adaptation

PanARMENIAN.Net - Warner Bros. has come out on top on the bidding war for Beautiful Disaster, a Fifty Shades of Grey-like tome aimed at the young adult (YA) set from Oklahoma author Jamie McGuire, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Donald De Line, who recently produced Michael Bay’s Pain and Gain, is attached to the project. Warners and CBS Films both vying for the rights to the book, which, like Fifty Shades, began life as a self-published online novel, became a hit and got picked up by a publishing house.

Disaster centers on college good-girl Abby Abernathy, who doesn’t drink or swear. Her romantic foil is Travis Maddox, “lean, cut and covered in tattoos,” according to the book description. He makes a bet with Abernathy: If Abernathy wins, he must abstain from sex for a month; if she loses, she must live with him for a month.

One reason for the popularity of the title among studio execs is it’s seen as a safer and less risky adaptation to tackle than Fifty Shades, which is packed with kinky sex and could face potential obstacles at the box office.

Disaster has a strong following of its own. McGuire sold more than 200,000 copies, self-publishing first as an ebook and later as a trade paperback in October through Amazon's Createspace.

The novel topped Amazon's self-published sales chart and even made an appearance on The New York Times best-seller list. Atria Books, a division of Simon & Shuster, signed McGuire and has a paperback version coming Aug. 14.