Universal Pictures has preemptively acquired the rights to Crime of the Century from a pitch by Chris Morgan through a two–year deal he has with the studio.

The movie is set to be directed by Dan Trachtenberg, co–host of the Totally Rad Show and commercial director who recently made huge waves with his short film Portal: No Escape, which was based on the hit puzzle game from Valve. The project is Trachtenberg’s feature debut.

Morgan is best known for his action–packed resume, which includes writing the scripts for The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Wanted, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, and the upcoming 47 Ronin. He’ll also be penning the script for the untitled Fast and the Furious 6 for director Justin Lin, who also recently inked a two–year deal with Universal. The deal is the first sale for Morgan.

Writing the screenplay is Dan Kunka, who came up with the idea for the project with Trachtenberg.

Not much is known about the movie as of yet, but it is said to be an action–packed heist movie with a science fiction twist to it.

Update: Trachtenberg tweeted us to clarify the news, saying “FYI- not a pitch by Morgan – pitch was ours, Chris acquired it.”

[Source: Deadline]