Doug Liman to Direct Adapatation of Sci-Fi Novel, 'Railhead'

Remember when Doug Liman made small movies like Getting In, Swingers, and Go? Those were a long time ago, and now he's a guy Hollywood regularly calls on for super sized sci-fi flicks like Jumper and June's Edge of Tomorrow. He's mixed in a couple of quieter movies along the way, like the excellent Fair Game with Naomi Watts, but mostly he's a big studio guy now who will be directing the Splinter Cell movie starring Tom Hardy. And now he's about to tackle another genre film, this one an adaptation of Philip Reeve's upcoming children's book, Railhead.

Reeve is the author of the popular Mortal Engines (not to be confused with The Mortal Instruments!) young adult novels that Peter Jackson has been planning to adapt for a few years now. Railhead is something entirely separate from that, though, with the yet-to-be published book taking place in a future world where trains run through connected space portals.  The main character is a petty thief tricked into stealing an object of greater importance than he was led to believe, kicking off an adventure that could change the universe. The book is geared towards kicks and will be published in fall 2015.

Liman's not the most obvious choice for a film targeted at children, so maybe Warner Bros. has plans to give the story more of a mature edge?