DreamWorks teams with Jackson for 'Lovely Bones'

LOS ANGELES, May 5 (Reuters) Capping a bidding war among several major Hollywood studios, DreamWorks has teamed up with Oscar-winning ''Lord of the Rings'' director Peter Jackson to bring the best-selling novel ''The Lovely Bones'' to the big screen.

Jackson will direct the film from a screenplay he co-wrote with two ''Lord of the Rings'' collaborators, Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh, and the picture will begin shooting in October in Pennsylvania and in Jackson's native New Zealand, DreamWorks said in a statement late yesterday.

The movie, to be made in association with the production house Film 4, will be distributed by Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures, which owns DreamWorks.

''The Lovely Bones'' tells the story of a woman, Susie Salmon, who is murdered but continues to watch over her family on Earth and see the impact her loss has on loved ones even as her killer covers his tracks and plans to strike again.

Published in 2002, ''Lovely Bones'' is the second novel by Alice Sebold, and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide, remaining on the New York Times hardback bestseller list for over a year.

The novel earned Sebold a Book of the Year Award for adult fiction from the American Booksellers Association.

DreamWorks landed rights to the book, considered one of Hollywood's most sought-after literary properties in recent years, following bids for the project from several rival studios.

No financial terms of the deal were disclosed, but a person familiar with the project said the film was budgeted for close to 70 million dollars.

Among the studios vying for the rights were Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Universal Pictures, a unit of General Electric Co.-controlled NBC Universal, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Jackson won Oscars in 2004 for directing, producing and writing ''The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,'' the third in his blockbuster trilogy of fantasy epics based on the writings of J R R Tolkien.

His last film was a 2005 remake of the classic giant ape adventure ''King Kong.'' REUTERS DS KN1004