New Line Cinema has hired ABOUT A BOY director Chris Weitz to helm the film version of Philip Pullman's award-winning fantasy book series, HIS DARK MATERIALS, reports VARIETY. Tom Stoppard (BRAZIL) wrote the adaptation of the first novel THE GOLDEN COMPASS. The series chronicles two kids in parallel universes who battle shape-shifting creatures, witches and armored polar bears. New Line production president Toby Emmerich will oversee the film.

The trade said that the studio was looking for a director with blockbuster experience for the project, but Weitz won the studio over with a long outline on his vision for bringing the series to the big screen. It is unclear whether the studio plans to make a trilogy out of the three book series because the final installment, THE AMBER SPYGLASS, which was the first kid's book to win the Whitbread Prize, might be to difficult to bring to film. So the plan may be to make two films combining pieces from all three books.