You read that right, my friends. Universal Pictures just snagged the options to the bestselling comic series Locke & Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez. In other words, they are looking to turn this awesome comic into a feature film! Now, I’ve loved the series since the beginning and I’ve got to say, this movie could easily shame a lot of the big comic films we have seen in the last few years.

Looking to produce this through Universal-based K/O Paper Products, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Bobby Cohen have teamed with IDW’s CEO Ted Allen who is also being listed as producer on this project. That’s a lot of pull to get the job done. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I was pretty jazzed to hear this today. We all know how Fox kind of dropped the ball on giving us a version for television with Steven Spielberg, not to mention MTV and SyFy passing on it, too. Luckily, it was Kurtzman and Orci (of Star Trek, Fringe and Transformers fame) who have remained dedicated to getting this off the ground. Their vigilance seems to have paid off finally. And I have to say, I think I’d rather see a feature length film than something scaled down for television anyway. And if everything goes well, word has it they might be looking at a trilogy of films!

Now if you aren’t familiar with the comic, here’s a quick synopsis: After the murder of their father, the Locke children move to Lovecraft, Massachusetts with their mom. They take up residence in their family’s ancestral home, the Keyhouse, which just so happens to be entrenched with a wide variety of magical keys that enable the user to do all sorts of scary and odd things, like becoming a ghost or releasing demons into the world. You know, the usual things you find in old homes.

All kidding aside, this is one of the best written comics out there. The graphic novel collections have shown up on the New York Times bestseller list, which is not something you see from your average comic book. Additionally, both Hill and Rodriguez have won awards for their work on the series and there seems to be no end to the wonders these two keep turning out. I’ve been a Joe Hill fan ever since his first novel and the comics have really blown me away. He definitely has talent in the same vein as his father…that’s Stephen King, in case you’re wondering.

While it’s still in the very earliest stages, we all have to cross our fingers and hope that nothing derails this film project. Though it has a decent chance of survival, I think, since it seems to have some pretty good backing from other folks in the industry. Jon Mone, Executive Vice President Production, and Creative Executive Jay Polidoro are keeping tabs on it for Universal and K/O Paper Products has Ben Kim on it from their end. We’ll keep you updated as more information gets released, but knowing how many Locke & Key fans are out there we just had to give you all a heads up. So keep buying the comics, Hollywood is watching!

[Source: Heat Vision]