MUMBAI: The end of the world phenomenon has always worked well at the box office and it seems the evident reason why apocalyptic themes attract the movie makers the most. After Dreamworks Animation acquired the rights of Francesca Haig‘s The Fire Sermon, Warner Bros won the rights to the post-apocalyptic book trilogy, The Young World after a heated auction on Friday.

Chris Weitz, the filmamaker (New Moon) turned author of the The Young World would also helm the director‘s chair for the big screen adaptation of his book. The novel is the first in a trilogy and centres on teenagers surviving the post apocalyptic and catastrophic event killing everyone but those between the ages of 12 and 21. Ill- equipped to restore the society back to a working one, the teenage survivors of New York City must try to rebuild their world from the ground up.

Weitz‘s novel will be published in 2013 by Little Brown while the film adaptation will be produced by Andrew Miano and co- produced by Depth of Field.

Weitz who has recently directed 2011‘s A Better Life, has previously directed the film adaptation of the novel The Golden Compass, a major international hit, and the film adaptation of New Moon from the series of Twilight books (the film grossed more than $700 million worldwide).

Chantal Nong brought the project into the studio and will oversee with Lynn Harris. Weitz is represented by WME and attorney Alex Kohner of Morris Yorn Barnes & Levine.