EXCLUSIVE: Netflix is in early development on Dawn, an end-of-the-world film based on a short story by Neal Shusterman, which will be adapted for the screen by A Minecraft Movie‘s Neil Widener and Gavin James.
While a logline wasn’t disclosed, sources described this as a story involving a family’s effort to survive amid solar flares that begin destroying planet Earth. Dylan Clark Productions will produce, after teaming with Netflix on Carry-On and Bird Box — two of the streamer’s most popular films of all time — with Underground exec producing.
Shusterman is the New York Times bestselling author of more than 50 books including Challenger Deep, which won the National Book Award; Courage to Dream, a Sydney Taylor Honor Book; Scythe, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book; the Unwind Dystology, which won more than 30 domestic and international awards; as well as Dry and Roxy, which he co-wrote with his son, Jarrod. For his body of work, he won the 2024 Margaret A. Edwards Award, along with the ALAN Lifetime Achievement Award. Many of his novels are currently in development for film and television at the likes of Paramount and Universal.
Widener & James were two of the writers on WB/Legendary’s smash A Minecraft Movie, which opened to a record-breaking $163M, making it the biggest video-game adaptation of all time. On the heels of that, they sold an original feature pitch entitled Fortune, in a competitive situation, to Skydance with Jerry Bruckheimer producing and Alan Ritchson to star. Currently, the duo is also adapting beloved video game franchise Jak & Daxter for Sony/PlayStation with Ruben Fleischer attached to direct.
Shusterman is repped by Underground, Independent Artist Group, and RLG. Widener & James are repped by Untitled, CAA, and Johnson Shapiro Slewett Kole.
