DARKEST MINDS Film Adaptation Will Be a Mix of STAND BY ME, THE WALKING DEAD, and Superheroes
Kung-Fu Panda director Jennifer Yuh Nelson is set to helm her first live-action feature film called Darkest Minds. The movie is based on a Young Adult trilogy written by Alexandra Bracken, and it sounds like it will make for a awesome film.
The book is described as “combining superhero conventions with tones of coming-of-age stories such as Stand By Me and post-apocalyptic survivor tales like The Walking Dead.” It’s a combination of all of my favorite things, so it seems like a project like this is worth getting excited about.
The news comes from THR, who says that the story is set after “a pandemic kills most of America’s children and teenagers. When some survivors develop various superpowers, they are deemed too dangerous for society, taken from their families and placed inside internment camps.”
The first book in the series centers on a 16-year-old with telekinetic powers who escapes her camp and joins a group of teens on the run from the government. Here’s the full description of the first book:
When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something alarming enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that gets her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government "rehabilitation camp." She might have survived the mysterious disease that's killed most of America's children, but she and the others have emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they cannot control.
Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones.
When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. Now she's on the run, desperate to find the one safe haven left for kids like her-East River. She joins a group of kids who escaped their own camp. Liam, their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can't risk getting close. Not after what happened to her parents.
When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at a life worth living.
I will totally watch this movie, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out.