Warner Bros. Wins "Heist Society" Rights

By our guest blogger, Matt Jussim

Warner Bros. Pictures has won a major bidding war for the film rights to Ally Carter's young adult thriller novel "Heist Society," says The Hollywood Reporter

According to the Hollywood Reporter: Warner Bros. has won a multistudio bidding war to pick up "Heist Society," a young-adult thriller novel by Ally Carter. Warners beat out Disney, Paramount and Summit, all of which jumped at the chance to bring to the screen a book, which can be described as "The Thomas Crown Affair" with teens.

The book, which hits stores next week, follows Katarina Bishop, a woman from a family made up of famed master thieves. When a mobster's priceless art collection goes missing, her father becomes the prime suspect and she assembles a team to find and retrieve the artwork.

In the books Bishop is a teenager at boarding school, the film version will age the various characters slightly upwards--making them in their early 20s. Denise Di Novi and Alison Greenspan are producing the film, while Shauna Cross will adapt the script.

Carter is best known as the author of young adult mystery series known as "Gallagher Girls," about a boarding school for girls who are spies-in-training.

I’m not that big into young adult thriller novels, but the premise of this one sounds like it will translate to the film easily. Audiences love slick thieves (“Ocean’s 11” series), and with the story centering on a group of young girls, well, that audience should come out in droves.

Look for the film sometime in 2011.