With the first adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games currently dominating the box office, it’s no surprise that studios are eager to pin down “the next Hunger Games” franchise (already). One candidate for the coveted spot may be author Lex Thomas’ Quaranteen trilogy (Lex Thomas is actually Lex Hrabe and Thomas Voorhies). It tells of a group of high school kids locked down under military quarantine after an explosion destroyed parts of their school and infected them with a virus that is deadly to adults. The thousand students begin to form gangs along the lines of social cliques in order to fight for survival. Black Forest Film Group has acquired the feature rights to the first novel in the trilogy, The Loners. Hit the jump for more.
Variety reports 
that Hrabe and Voorhies will write the screenplay for Quaranteen: The Loners. (I should also point out that I’ve seen the title listed as both Quaranteen and Quarantine, so keep an eye out for both.) The Loners novel will be released by EgmontUSA this coming July. The plot concerns two brothers trying to survive in the school on their own, until a girl comes along and threatens to complicate their relationship. Here’s the description from the first novel (via Amazon):
It was just another ordinary day at McKinley High—until a massive explosion devastated the school. When loner David Thorpe tried to help his English teacher to safety, the teacher convulsed and died right in front of him. And that was just the beginning.
A year later, McKinley has descended into chaos. All the students are infected with a virus that makes them deadly to adults. The school is under military quarantine. The teachers are gone. Violent gangs have formed based on high school social cliques. Without a gang, you’re as good as dead. And David has no gang. It’s just him and his little brother, Will, against the whole school.
In this frighteningly dark and captivating novel, Lex Thomas locks readers inside a school where kids don’t fight to be popular, they fight to stay alive.
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sounds alot better than the hunger game premise I know nothing about the book but if it is grounded in reality it could be really good
Yeah, just like that Percy Jackson movie tried to be the next Harry Potter…
Percy Jackson did a good job of filling the void, actually, was actually pretty successful in the box-office and is moving forward with the next film. It’s not as good as Potter, but I found it a hell of a lot more entertaining than most of the fantasy fodder that’s been vomited out since Lord of the Rings and Potter revived the genre, and for that easy-going fantasy fill, I am excited for more Percy Jackson…
Also it just cast Nathan Fillion, which means it’ll be instantly perfect.
“It tells of a group of high school kids locked down under military quarantine after an explosion destroyed parts of their school and infected them with a virus that is deadly to adults. The thousand students begin to form gangs along the lines of social cliques in order to fight for survival.”
On this premise alone I wouldn’t mind watching this as long as its rated R.
There’s only one big problem I see with this…looking on the magical internet I see the first book isn’t out until this July? Are we really going to make this mistake? Going to start films when the books aren’t even STARTED yet? That’s the biggest Mistake from last year’s “I am Number 4″
I was one of the only people I know who liked that flick, but the problem was we started what should have been a 4 or 5 film series based on books after the FIRST was the only one…
It’s tough to keep up audience interest as well as keep actors the same age when you’re producing films only AFTER the next book is written.
Movies in franchises can now be done yearly thanks to the magic of film-making…books? Not so much.
Enjoy year 2 of this high school series, when you’re actors who are supposed to be sophomore’s in high school are shaving their full beards, drinking after each day shooting and voting in the NEXT presidential election at the ages of 21…