DreamWorks nets Jackson

DreamWorks SKG has won a week-long Hollywood bidding war for Peter Jackson’s latest film. Jackson made his screen adaptation of Alice Sebold’s novel The Lovely Bones available on the open market last week, generating interest from major studios Sony, Universal, Warner Bros. and DreamWorks. DreamWorks reportedly won the right to finance the film due to Jackson’s relationship with its founder – Steven Spielberg. DreamWorks also has a successful history in promoting similarly “risky” adult dramas, with its Oscar-winning tragicomedy American Beauty grossing US $353 million worldwide. The Lovely Bones is about a 14-year-old girl who watches her family from heaven after her brutal rape and murder. Jackson will begin filming in Pennsylvania (where Sebold’s novel is set) in October; special effects will be shot at his Wellington studio.