Universal is in negotiations to pick up the rights to Sweet Valley High, the long-running book series created by Francine Pascal, that made its debut in 1983, publishing 150-plus books with more than 60 million copies in print.

But even with the massive built in audience, what could have caused the bidding war ruckus this property triggered between Universal, Fox 2000 and Mandate?

Well, that’d be Academy-Award Winning screenwriter Diablo Cody, who is attached to adapt and produce with Mason Novick as well as Marc Platt.

Cody’s youth was apparently spent reading the books, and  Cody and Novick tracked down the rights and developed a take on the series.

Sweet Valley High centered on the lives of two teenage girls, Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, who lived in the fictional town of Sweet Valley, Calif. Jessica was the more conniving and materialistic of the sisters, and usually needed help from the more practical Elizabeth when her schemes went awry.

The last incarnation we saw of the Wakefield sisters was in Fox’s sitcom version, which ran from 1994-1998.

Even with the lackluster reviews and poor box-office performance of Cody’s latest, Jennifer’s Body, she is still able to cause a stir. With Sweet Valley High, you know her Cody-ism slang will be out in full-fledge, but this time I think it will actually fit those characters are. The sister relationship will have to hold your attention, and Cody writes those female relationships very well. But as a guy, I’m not really the authority on how good she’d be at adapting this. I’m wasn’t exactly their target audience.

What do you think of Diablo Cody adapting Sweet Valley High? For all the ladies out there, were the books all that great???

Source: THR