39Clues Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Remember that ginormous project called 39 Clues that was announced awhile back -- a worldwide mystery to span books, interactive games, trading cards and a movie deal, courtesy of Steven Spielberg? The first book in the series, The Maze of Bones, hits shelves all over the world next Tuesday, the same day as its interactive online game. Will it spark an obsession along the lines of Twilight or Harry Potter? Time will tell.

Steven Spielberg has confidence in it, though. Acccording to Variety, he's hired his old pal Jeff Nathanson to pen the script, marking their fourth collaboration together. They paired up previously on The Terminal, Catch Me If You Can, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Spielberg is still eying Clues' director's chair, and it will be interesting to see where this can fit into his busy schedule, where Tintin and Lincoln were taking precedence. Does he want this worldwide money hunt (the prize for solving the project's mystery is $10,000) to be over before the movie, or will the bloom be off the rose by then? What if the whole multiplatform concept fails spectacularly? Are the books still filmable? The ambition of 39 Clues leaves me doubting whether it can deliver -- but I can hardly pretend to have better judgment than Spielberg. At any rate, I'll be watching the book pages with interest to see what audiences make of The Maze of Bones -- if anyone out there buys it, give us the scoop!

I've come to the conclusion that Steven Spielberg must not need any sleep. Because Variety is reporting that he's just added another project to his busy plate: 39 Clues, a multiplatform adventure series that will launch September 9th and run for two years. It spans a series of ten books, collectible cards, and an online game. The game will actually be designed around a contest, where young participants will try to solve the mystery scattered throughout the books, with a chance to win $10,000. Whew! Just typing all that makes me tired, I can't imagine sorting through it to make a movie.

39 Clues does have a neat, Indiana Jones feel to its storyline -- it centers on the most powerful family in the world, the Cahills, who boast Houdini and Napoleon among their relatives. The adventure kicks off in the first book, Maze of Bones, when the death of the Cahill's matriarch, Grace, sparks off a race for the inheritance. She hasn't made it easy, you see: Her last will offers her descendants the choice between $1 million, or a clue. Scattered around the world and throughout history, the clues will reveal the source of the family's secret powers. Spielberg is contemplating taking the director's chair, and aims to have a screenwriter attached in the next few weeks. And the first book hasn't even hit Barnes and Noble yet!