Joe Hill, son of Stephen King, has just sold the rights to his short story Twittering from the Circus of the Dead. Mandalay is planning on turning this into a full feature film and has hired Chris Borrelli to write the script. The short story was part of The New Dead, a zombie anthology book released in 2010:
"The short story, written entirely as tweets from a teenage girl, follows an American family on a cross country road trip that goes horribly wrong."
Heat Vision reports that Todd Lincoln (The Apparition) is in negotiations to direct, but there is no word on casting or a target release date. This is one of multiple projects in development that are based on the work of Joe Hill. The others include a possible film adaptation of Heart Shaped Box and a TV version of the Locke & Key comic series. A pilot was shot for Locke & Key and while Fox did not pick it up for a full season renewal, it has been mentioned that it may be taken to other networks for a pickup.
The New Dead features 19 zombie-themed stories, including Twittering from the Circus of the Dead and a story from Max Brooks (Zombie Survival Guide), among others. If you'd like to purchase the book or learn more, visit the official product page.