Some potentially big news for science-fiction fans this week: Summit Entertainment is in the process of acquiring the U.S. rights to Ender’s Game, an adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s influential 1985 novel about a future world where aliens have attacked and kids are trained at a young age to be perfect soldiers. Odd Lot Entertainment has been trying to get this project set up ever since Warner Brothers let the rights lapse last year, with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (Transformers, Star Trek) recently coming on board as producers. Summit will also be co-financing the project, which puts them in a position to hopefully start production early next year. As previously rumoured, it looks like Gavin Hood (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) will be the one to direct from his own rewrite of Orson Scott Card’s original script.

I have to admit, I’m a bit surprised that this project is finally moving forward. Although the book won Nebula and Hugo Awards when it was first released, it doesn’t seem to have a huge built-in fanbase outside of older sci-fi fans. It seems a bit ironic that Summit is looking at it as another potential teen-friendly franchise to follow in the footsteps of Twilight and The Hunger Games. Yes, the main character is a young kid, and yes there is a whole series of books to capitalize on, but none of today’s kids are actually reading them.

Either way, I guess we should just be happy that Ender’s Game is getting the chance to make the jump to the big screen. Gavin Hood still seems like a somewhat unproven director (Wolverine was a commercial success, though not a big hit with fans), but the situation could be a lot worse. What do you think, can he do Ender’s Game justice and will the movie be another big hit for Summit?