RH Films Picks ‘Infected’

By Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly, 5/30/2007 8:26:00 AM

Scott Sigler’s forthcoming thriller, Infected, has been selected as the next book-to-film project for Random House Films. The spring 2008-slated Crown novel, which is the first in what’s expected to be at least a two-book series, will be brought to the screen in partnership with Rogue Pictures (a sister company to the studio aligned with RH Films, Focus Features).

The deal was arranged by RH Films president Peter Gethers and the co-presidents of Rogue, Andrew Karpen and Andrew Rona. Random House Films will also get filmmaking rights to the unpublished second novel in Sigler’s series, which Crown has already signed. Infected, which Crown senior v-p and publisher Steve Ross said is expected to be one of the imprint’s biggest books for next spring, follows a CIA specialist and Centers for Disease Control scientist trying to contain a bioterror threat in the form of a fast-spreading parasite that turns its victims into serial killers. Reservation Road, the first adaptation announced by RH Films, is planned for release this fall.