Jon Chu is setting up a very interesting career for himself. The director got his big break directing the second and third Step Up movies before making the hit music documentary Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, but then he totally changed gears to make the action blockbuster G.I. Joe: Retaliation. So how will he be changing it up for his next project? He's going after futuristic young adult literature.
The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Chu has is now in negotiations with Disney to direct an adaptation of the Ally Bondie novel Matched, which is being produced by Rock of Ages director Adam Shankman and Jennifer Gibgot. First published in 2010, the dystopian story is set in a future where people have had all free will taken away from them, with everyone "told what to read, what to watch, what to believe and who to love." The main character is a young woman who breaks society's laws by rejecting her chosen mate and heads out on her own.
Michelle and Kieran Mulroney, who are best known for writing the action/adventure Sherlock Holmes: A Book of Shadows, are currently writing the script. The studio purchased the rights to the book one month before it was released after a long bidding war with Paramount Pictures. The book was the first in what's called the Matched Trilogy, and the final book, "Reached," came out in November of last year.
While the movie was originally supposed to be released last June, Chu's G.I. Joe Retaliation will be in theaters on March.
