Maximum Ride, based on the best-selling young adult novel series by James Patterson, is close to being bought by Universal Pictures. The project was put into turnaround by Columbia Pictures.
Heat Vision says that Catherine Hardwicke remains attached to direct, with father and son Avi Arad and Ari Arad and Steven Paul producing.
The protagonists of the story are six children who have been genetically altered to be 98% human and 2% bird. The kids, who are bred to fly, escape a lab-rat existence and are then pursued by their scientist creators, who send a pack of part-human part-wolves called Erasers to hunt them down.
Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (Iron Man, upcoming Cowboys & Aliens) will write a new draft of the script, previously penned by Don Payne.
