Peter Jackson to adapt Philip Reeve's sci-fi 'Mortal Engines'

Filmmaker Peter Jackson is set to adapt Philip Reeve's science-fiction fantasy book series, "Mortal Engines".
Universal Pictures is teaming with MRC for the project, which Jackson is producing but not directing, said The Hollywood Reporter.
Jackson, 54, and Fran Walsh, his wife and partner in the "Lord of the Rings" and "Hobbit" trilogies, have written the script with their collaborator Philippa Boyens.
The filmmaker's longtime protege Christian Rivers will make his feature directorial debut with the movie.
First published by Scholastic in 2001, the four-book series is set in a future world devastated ecologically and technologically.
The story revolves around a teen named Tom Natsworthy who, along with a young woman from a territory known as the Outlands, uncovers a mystery that could change the world order.

The film will be the first time that Walsh, Boyens and Jackson have written a project that Jackson has not directed.