39 Clues To Be Written By Nathanson

Jeff Nathanson has signed on to write the screenplay for the first film installment of The 39 Clues, Scholastic Media's upcoming multi-platform children's adventure series, DreamWorks announced.

DreamWorks Studios recently acquired the movie rights from Scholastic Media to the series, which Scholastic president Deborah Forte will produce and Steven Spielberg is eyeing to direct.

Nathanson wrote Spielberg's The Terminal and Catch Me If You Can. The 39 Clues centers around the Cahills--the most powerful family in the world--whose source of power is a mystery that can only be unraveled by assembling 39 clues hidden around the world throughout history.

The 39 Clues launches Sept. 9 with a book, The Maze of Bones, written by Rick Riordan. A second book, One False Note, by Gordon Korman, will be published Dec. 2.

A 39 Clues online game, meanwhile, will also launch on Sept. 9.