Ben Affleck To Direct Keeper Of The Lost Cities For Disney

Busy times for Ben Affleck in front and now behind the camera. With acting duties hopefully coming this year from Last Duel, Deep Water and Hypnotic to directing Ghost Army  to Agatha Christie’s Witness For Prosecution. It seems the actor-filmmaker is about to get even more busier and direct Keeper Of The Lost Cities For Disney.

The report comes from Deadline is set to direct the young adult adaptation of the fantasy novel. The film will be adapted from on the best selling series of books written by Shannon Messenger and off course Disney will possibly push this film as a potential franchise.

Here’s the description of the book from Messenger’s own website – “Twelve-year-old Sophie Foster has a secret. She’s a Telepath–someone who can read minds. It’s a talent she’s never known how to explain. Everything changes the day she meets Fitz, a mysterious (and adorable) boy who appears out of nowhere, and who can also read minds like her. She discovers there’s somewhere she does belong, and that staying with her family will put her in grave danger. In the blink of an eye. Sophie is forced to leave behind everything and start a new life in a place that is vastly different from what she has ever known“.

Franchises are big bucks for studios and finding the elusive one is becoming extremely difficult. Many have shown potential and faltered soon a film version was made and failed. Was it the story source or the director picked  it’s hard to say. It will be new territory for Affleck, who since now hasn’t made a film aimed at Young Adult or a family audience. His gritty crime dramas such as The Town, Gone Baby Gone, Argo and Live By Night have given him mixed results.  This could see  him getting possibly his biggest budget to direct with even the possibility of  a potential billion dollar return if done right!