LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The DreamWorks studio on Wednesday said it has acquired movie rights to the book, Internet and card game series "The 39 Clues," with Steven Spielberg looking to direct a film version.
"The 39 Clues" is a multimedia product set to be launched in September by U.S. publisher Scholastic Corp., which is the same company that published the wildly popular "Harry Potter" books about the British boy wizard.
The new series includes 10 books, more than 350 collectible cards and an online game in which kids compete for prices by unraveling a mystery that delves into the global power behind a family named the Cahills. The first book in the series, "The Maze of Bones," was written by Rick Riordan.
"'The 39 Clues' takes creative leaps to expand the story experience from the pages of the books to multiple stages of discovery and imagination," Spielberg said in a statement. "We have the opportunity to develop this property that says 'film,' 'family,' 'fun' and 'franchise.'"
DreamWorks is currently owned by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc.
(Reporting by Bob Tourtellotte; editing by Steve Gorman)
