Here's a Tuesday oxymoron for you: "original reboot". There's no need for confusion though because the explanation is simple. The **Reboot **currently on the cards at Fox is not a new version of something old, but an adaptation of a yet-to-be-published kids' novel. The book is by Amy Tintera, and Lindsay Devlin is now at work on the screenplay.
The high-concept story seems to be a dark sci-fi romance. The premise is a future in which dead people can be reanimated as the titular 'Reboots', with the catch that the longer you've been dead, the more of your humanity you'll have lost by the time you come back. Seventeen year-old protagonist Wren Connolly was shot and couldn't be revived for three hours, making her an emotionless terminator on her return. So she obviously joined the military.
She's then tasked with training new recruit Callum Reyes, who was brought back after only a matter of minutes and therefore still has his humanity more or less intact. Deemed useless due to his pesky emotions and tendency to ask questions, he's targeted for retirement (read: execution - permanent this time). Wren, however, is feeling stirrings for Callum in places that haven't stirred since she was alive, and for the first time finds herself unable to carry out an order.
As we said, the book's not out yet, so it's too early to call whether this wil turn out to be the movie of a massive bestseller. Fox clearly see Hunger Games potential in the set-up however, making it a reasonably high-profile studio debut for Devlin. A former executive, she turned her hand to screenwriting and picked up some attention with a spec horror script called Nocturne. She's also written a developing modern-day Sleeping Beauty that possibly has Hailee Steinfeld attached to star.
No such details are yet available about Reboot, although the producers are Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark: the team behind the likes of the new Apes movies and Oblivion. The **Reboot **novel is published by Harper Teen next May.