Elizabeth Banks May Direct 'Red Queen,' A YA Tale Of Magic And Royality

Elizabeth Banks' first movie was a massive, massive surprise hit. Pitch Perfect 2 has grossed over $250 million worldwide and counting with work already started on a sequel. We don't know if she'll be back for that, but we do know the actress turned director is looking at new projects. Word is, she's currently circling a project called Red Queen, based on a young adult novel by Victoria Aveyard which sounds like a YA Game of Thrones, It's about a common girl whose ability to use magic makes her into the upper echelons of society. Below, read more about the Red Queen movie.Deadline reported the Red Queen movie news. They say Banks would come on board to develop, produce and direct. Breaking Bad writer Gennifer Hutchison adapted the novel. Here's the plot description via Amazon:

Graceling meets The Selection in debut novelist Victoria Aveyard's sweeping tale of seventeen-year-old Mare, a common girl whose once-latent magical power draws her into the dangerous intrigue of the king's palace. Will her power save her or condemn her?

Mare Barrow's world is divided by blood–those with common, Red blood serve the Silver- blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman abilities. Mare is a Red, scraping by as a thief in a poor, rural village, until a twist of fate throws her in front of the Silver court. Before the king, princes, and all the nobles, she discovers she has an ability of her own.

To cover up this impossibility, the king forces her to play the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard–a growing Red rebellion–even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction. One wrong move can lead to her death, but in the dangerous game she plays, the only certainty is betrayal.

It certainly sounds like slightly Game of Thrones, does it not? Definitely a very different project for Banks, though she is one of the stars of The Hunger Games franchise so she knows that YA audience.

What do you think about Banks directing the film? Here's the author Aveyard said: