Twilight, you just might have a lot to answer for.
With the first movie adapted from Stephenie Meyer’s wildly successful series of teen vampire novels set to make a big splash at the US box office this weekend, Hollywood is already scouting around for projects in a similar vein.
And producers Michael Birnbaum and Jeremiah Chechik may have just hit paydirt.
They’ve snapped up the rights to House Of Night, a series of nine novels written by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast for young adults.
The series, which starts with Marked and has just reached its fourth instalment, Untamed, takes place in an alternate reality where humans and vampires, or vampyres, co-exist. In fact, vampyres – whose powers manifest themselves at puberty (hello, X-Men) – must go to a special school, House Of Night, to learn about being a bloodsucker.
The novels and mooted films will follow Zoey Redbird, who finds herself thrown into the chaos of House Of Night when she discovers that she’s a vampyre.
Hmm… sounds a bit familiar to us – essentially, it’s Harry Potter And The School Of Vampyres - but we’ll trust that Birnbaum and Chechik, who directed National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and will therefore always be in our good books (just don't mention The Avengers), can make this seem fresh and original. Good luck, guys.
No studio is yet attached, but it's surely only a matter of time.