Sony Pictures' genre arm Screen Gems has acquired the Harold Zwart's adaptation of The Mortal Instruments starring Lily Collins.  Based on the first book in Cassandra Clare's young adult novel series, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Collins will play Clary Fray, "a young woman who discovers she is the descendant of a line of secret cadre of half-angel warriors locked in an ancient battle to protect the world from demons."  Sony had been circling Mortal Instruments back in February, but decided to pass.  According to Deadline, Constantin Film has come on board to partner on the movie, so it now has the financing to move forward.  We previously reported that filming was set to begin August 15th in Toronto.According to Box Office Mojo, Screen Gems will release the film on August 23, 2013.  The movie currently has no competition on that date.  Hit the jump for the official synopsis.mortal_instruments_city_of_bones_book_coverHere's the synopsis The Mortal Instruments:

CLARY FRAY (Lily Collins) is an ordinary Brooklyn teenager until the night she meets the mysteriously tattooed JACE, who turns out to be a half-angel warrior known as a Shadowhunter. When Clary finds out her mother JOCELYN has been abducted, she desperately hopes Jace will be able to help. After a whirling golden portal transports her across time and space in a heartbeat, Clary realizes she too has the powers of the Shadowhunters. But can she harness them in time to save her mother?

Clary, Jace and their fellow Shadowhunters endure one breathtaking battle after another against vampire, warlocks and demons—only to discover Jocelyn hid a terrible secret from the fiercest warrior of all: VALENTINE. Cast out from the world of Shadowhunters, Valentine abducted Jocelyn believing she had a powerful tool known as the Mortal Cup. Using her newfound gifts, Clary finds the Cup, only to be brutally betrayed and forced to relinquish it.

Still reeling from this setback and racing to save Jocelyn before it’s too late, Clary finds herself caught in a battle between forces she barely understands. Based on the best-selling series by Cassandra Clare, MORTAL INSTRUMENTS is a magnificent urban fantasy rich in detail and suspense, about a girl’s journey to the darkest corners of the underworld to save those she loves.