Patterson novels to hit big screen

Morgan Freeman starred in the Alex Cross films Bestselling author James Patterson has already seen his Alex Cross books hit the big screen - and now it looks like another set of his novels will also be adapted. Variety reports that Columbia has bought the rights to his Maximum Ride series of books. The stories focus on six children who have been genetically altered to be 98 per cent human and two per cent bird. They escape their lab-rat lives but are pursued by scientists. The website reports that Don Payne will write the script, while Avi Arad, Ari Arad and Steven Paul will produce. James himself will apparently be executive producer. "The Maximum Ride books use man-made mutation as a metaphor of humans trying to take advantage of human frailty and interfere with nature," Avi Arad apparently said. The fifth instalment of the... [read full story]