Legendary Pictures to Develop THE ESPERANZA FIRE

Legendary Pictures has picked up the rights to a nonfiction book called The Esperanza Fire written by John Maclean. It sounds like it will be a pretty intense film.

The story tells the real-life account of "a tightly-knit forest service engine crew which perished battling the perfect storm of wildland fires in 2006 near Cabazon, Calif. The blaze and resulting deaths resulted in the first-ever conviction of a wildland arsonist for first degree murder. Arsonist Raymond Lee Oyler was given the death penalty."

Maclean was an investigative journalist with the Chicago Tribune for many years, and his other books include Fire and Ashes and The Thirtymile Fire.

Legendary Pictures has a great year of films ahead of them; they've got Jack the Giant Slayer, Man of Steel, Pacific Rim, and The Hangover Part III all set to be released later this year.