Talks for Edgar Wright’s ‘Grasshopper Jungle’ Adaptation Land at New Regency

With Baby Driver on the fast track to its summer release date, Edgar Wright is making plans with New Regency for his next potential project, an adaptation of Andrew Smith’s 2014 young adult novel, Grasshopper Jungle.

The famed “Cornetto” trilogy (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World’s End) writer/director is on board to direct the film with producers Matt Tolmach (Rough Night, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle) and Nira Park, who is a frequent collaborator with Wright.

Previously set up at Baby Driver studio Sony Pictures, Grasshopper Jungle is a genre-combining dive into the age of adolescence and sexual discovery, personified by an accidental monster global apocalypse.

The original novel’s synopsis reads, “In the small town of Ealing, Iowa, Austin and his best friend, Robby, have accidentally unleashed an unstoppable army. An army of horny, hungry, six-foot-tall praying mantises that only want to do two things. This is the truth. This is history. It’s the end of the world. And nobody knows anything about it. You know what I mean.”

Although Wright is most celebrated among cult cinephiles for his original projects, Wright is no stranger to adaptations. His 2010 comic-based Scott Pilgrim vs. The World became an instant cult classic and was a respectful celebration of the source material. Fans of the novel can likely expect more of the same in Wright’s next adaptation.