Gabriel Rodriguez’s critically acclaimed work is headed to the big screen…

Universal Pictures has optioned Locke & Key – the supernatural comic book series by the Chilean comic book artist and Joe Hill – to develop as a feature film.

Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Bobby Cohen will produce the project via their Universal-based K/O Paper Products banner. 

Locke & Key tells the story of three siblings who, after the gruesome murder of their father, move to their ancestral home in Massachusetts. They soon discover the house has magical keys that give the bearers a vast array of powers and abilities. However, a devious creature is also after the keys, forcing the family to make a stand against evil.

The stories expanded to tell a bi-generational coming-of-age tale that encompasses heroism and tragedy and thrills and chills.

The graphic novel collections have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list multiple times, even hitting #1, while the comics have garnered Rodriguez and Hill multiple Eisner Award nominations.

Hill, the son of Stephen King and author of horror novels like Heart-Shaped Box and the recent NOS4A2, won an Eisner for best writer, and the series has twice won the British Fantasy Award for best comic/graphic novel.