Having spent the majority of her career so far working on animated projects (including co-directing or directing all the Kung Fu Panda movies for DreamWorks Animation), Jennifer Yuh Nelson is making the switch to live-action work, overseeing the adaptation of YA book series Darkest Minds.
In the seeming tradition of YA adventures, Alexandra Bracken's story is set in a alternate world. In this case, it's one where a pandemic has killed off most of America's kids and teenagers. Some of the survivors develop superpowers, which worries society at large and those with newfound abilities are sent to internment camps.
Our protagonist for at least the first story is a 16-year-old who develops telekinetic powers and decides to break out of her camp,. She ends up on the run with like-minded (and powered) teens who are trying to escape the government's clutches.
20th Century Fox is backing this one, with Shawn Levy aboard as a producer. It's early day for this one, so there's no casting to announce just yet.