Attention aspiring novelists! Now might be a good time to begin dabbling in a little eco-inspired, tween-friendly wordsmithing if the recent Disney acquisition of Kat Falls’ soon-to-be-released debut novel Dark Life is any indication of a healthy trend percolating. The majority of writers tend to be dubbed “starving” with good reason, and yet Ms. Falls has defied the odds by garnering a film adaptation of her young adult themed story by the mega film conglomerate, with Robert Zemeckis slated to direct it, before it’s even hit the stores.

Revolving around a fantastical world in the foreseeable future where climate change has resulted in ocean floor homesteading and the development of curious supernatural abilities among select younger residents, it reflects the type of ‘God I hope this never happens…but maybe it could’ storyline that instantly grips audiences regardless of their age or stance on global warming. The author, also a graduate screenwriting professor at Northwestern University, says that Dark Life focuses on “a 16-year-old boy, who when outlaws attack his family’s ocean floor homestead, offers to help a girl from above sea level in a dangerous aquatic search for her missing brother.”

The Hollywood entertainment bible Variety says that this will probably be the first of many family-friendly film installments (on the order of Harry Potter, The Spiderwick Chronicles and Twilight) that receive the royal franchise/hyper-marketing treatment and will likely employ a live-action style rather than the performance-capture technique that Zemeckis masterfully displayed in Beowulf and Polar Express. Considering the wild success of Avatar, green themes on the big screen are where it’s at. Someone hand me a pen!

Via Cinematical