Legendary Pictures picks up the rights to the Marcus Sakey science fiction book Brilliance

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Ready for some mutant action not related to X-Men?

Deadline is reporting that Legendary Pictures has picked up the rights to the novel “Brilliance” by Marcus Sakey. Sakey has also written other books such as “The Blade Itself” and “Good People.” Joe Roth and Palak Patel (OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL) from Roth Films are on board to produce the film.

The book:

Focuses on an alternate present-day scenario where 1% of children are born savants with special powers. Called “brilliants,” they are capable of exceptional things. A federal agent, who uses his skills to become a master hunter of terrorists, pursues a savant terrorist who intends to provoke civil war.

The book hasn’t been published yet but is set to hit shelves in July. People have made comparisons to X-Men (which is warranted) but it also sounds like it’s in the same class as the films PUSHER and WANTED as well. Still, I think the movie (and the book) will be different enough to have their own identities. Of course when it comes to the film a lot is going to depend on who is cast in the movie and who ends in the director’s chair.

With how well OZ performed this weekend it’ll be interesting to see how quickly this moves into production with Roth and Patel producing the flick.