Chris Columbus Welcomes Us to the Hoxford

Chris Columbus' 1492 Ent. has optioned the motion picture rights to Ben Templesmith's graphic novel WELCOME TO HOXFORD from IDW Publishing. Columbus will produce with 1492 partners Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe. Michelle Miller brought the project into 1492.

Templesmith is the co-creator of 30 DAYS OF NIGHT (with writer Steve Niles), upon which the film was based. His credits include the critically-acclaimed serial WORMWOOD GENTLEMAN CORPSE and SINGULARITY 7. When a deeply disturbed and violent inmate is transferred to a privately run mental prison called Hoxford, his psychiatrist discovers that the worst of the worst inmates are being transferred into the facility but never out. After trying to see her patient, the doctor find herself trapped in the prison, so she and the inmate must fight for survival, together, against the werewolves that run the facility. Welcome to Hoxford.

"I actually owe the entire book to an idea I had after receiving a letter about some previous work being banned from a prison," said Templesmith. "It turned into one of the darker things I've ever done, with a few sick twists. It's really been quite fantastic that Chris Columbus has thought Hoxford worthy enough to perhaps burst from the comic page to the screen."

CAA represents both Columbus and IDW Publishing. Columbus' attorney is Walter Teller. In addition to CAA, IDW was repped by Circle of Confusion and attorney Darren Trattner.