YA Sci-Fi Action Novel, THE DIABOLIC, Moves Onward To Live-Action Adaptation For Columbia Pictures

If the name of Matt Tolmach reads as familiar, you may recognize him as having been attached to many a Spider-Man-related project for Sony at a time when Andrew Garfield’s iteration was still at the forefront and leaked emails weren’t such a distractive shiny object. Tolmach is currently serving as executive producer on Spider-Man: Homecoming as well as a producer on the Jumanji remake while it remains to be seen as to whether or not Venom or The Sinister Six will ever see the day; The chances are pretty grim and the new Spider-Man has already seuged onward into more bankabpe territory, while Tolmach has reportedly begun advancing a new project following the recent Simon & Shuster publication of the latest novel, The Diabolic.

Deadline has it on good terms that Tolmach has pre-emptively acquired the film rights to the YA sci-fi novel via his own banner at Matt Tolmach Productions along with Columbia Pictures, and with David Manpearl executive producing. Written by S.J. Kincaid, the novel will preamble the film telling of a tale of action, danger and intrigue stylized as Red Queen meets The Hunger Games – an epic centered on Nemesis, a Diabolic in the form of a humanoid teenager engineered specifically to carry out certain orders and protect those to whom they are attributed,  taking as many lives as they need to and sacrificing their own.

For this, we learn of Sidonia, the young woman with whom Nemesis has shared an abstract upbringing since childhood, who is summoned by the power-mad Emperor to the Galactic Court to serve as a hostage when he learns her father, a galactic senator, is in collusion with a brewing rebellion against him. With no choice but to assume Sidonia’s identity for her own protection, she infiltrates the Court in observation of a world rife with political skullduggery and familial treachery, ready to utilize herself for the killing machine she is whilst hiding her own identity lest her cover be blown. With the Empire’s instability looming, however, Nemesis’s story soon becomes a journey of self-discovery toward the one thing that can saver her life as well as the empire.

The report doesn’t share anything else in terms of a start date or any casting and crewing or if this is part of a much larger series like with Hunger Games and Divergent – the latter having hit a stalemate before it could forsee its big screen finale in the fourth film. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if a franchise was in order, especially with Hollywood plotting the next decade of Disney remakes. If those sell, I’d bet The Diabolic would too.

Stay tuned!