Deadline: Sony Pictures a frontrunner to partner with Constantin Film on ‘Mortal Instruments’

Anyone else getting a sense of deja vu?

Deadline is reporting that Sony Pictures is the frontrunner to partner with Constantin Film in developing The Mortal Instruments franchise.

Sony Pictures was involved early on with its smaller studio Screen Gems originally developing the project before they backed out and Constantin went forward with it.

Constantin announced that filming on The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones will begin on August 15 in Toronto.

No release date is currently set.

Here’s what Deadline had to say:

With franchise fever heavy in the air after last weekend’s The Hunger Games opening and the big auction for Fifty Shades of Grey, I’m hearing that Sony Pictures is the frontrunner to partner with Constantin on the live action adaptation of Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments, which just got Lily Collins as star and The Karate Kidhelmer Harald Zwart as director.

Sony Pictures, which has The Da Vinci Code and James Bond and is expected to go forward with the second installment in the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo franchise, is looking to fortify its tent pole business. The studio was one of the most aggressive bidders for screen rights to the E.L. James trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey. The studio had originally been involved with The Mortal Instruments, before Screen Gems let it go and Constantin put it back together. The series starts with the first book The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, set in contemporary New York City, where a seemingly ordinary teenager discovers she is the descendant of a line of Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of young half-angel warriors locked in an ancient battle to protect our world from demons. After the disappearance of her mother, Clary must join forces with a group of Shadowhunters, who introduce her to a dangerous alternate New York called Downworld, filled with demons, warlocks, vampires, werewolves and other deadly creatures. Collins is about to open in Mirror Mirror for Relativity Media. Constantin announced recently that production on The Mortal Instruments will begin August 15 in Toronto.

Jessica Postigo and I. Marlene King wrote the script, with Robert Kulzer producing for Constantin Film and Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne producing for Unique Features.

This is definitely good news. Looks like Mortal Instruments will get the special treatment from the big boys at Sony Pictures instead of Screen Gems.

Let’s hope that Sony Pictures has the good sense not to let this project go twice.

Stay tuned to TMI Source for all of the latest news regarding Cassandra Clare, her books and City of Bones film news. Follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, follow us on Tumblr or email us at MortalInstrumentsSource@gmail.com.