has dated its fantasy-actioner “
” for Oct. 14, 2016 — the first title to be dated on that month.
Focus tapped Spanish director
(“The Impossible”) last month to direct “A Monster Calls,” based on the Patrick Ness novel, with producing partner Belen Atienza on board. No cast has been attached.
The story centers on a young boy who deals with his mother’s illness and the bullying of his classmates by escaping into a fantastical world of monsters and fairy tales. The book won Britain’s Carnegie Medal and Greenaway Medal in 2012 for best children’s literature.
Ness wrote the novel based on an original idea by the late Siobhan Dowd and his adapted screenplay made the Black List of best unproduced screenplays last year.
2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC