Guillermo del Toro’s Secret project apparently has Universal appeal…

The 48-year-old Mexican filmmaker’s latest project as a producer, a new film version of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel The Secret Garden, has been acquired by Universal Pictures.

The film’s script will be written by Lucy Alibar, who earned an Oscar-nomination for co-writing Beasts Of The Southern Wild. She’s expected to work closely with del Toro on the script.

In The Secret Garden, an orphaned girl is sent to live with her reclusive uncle and discovers a hidden garden containing magical secrets. This project will take on its own original path from other stage and screen adaptations seen in recent years. Rumor has it the film will be set in the American South at the turn of the 20th Century.

The last major adaptation of The Secret Garden was the 1993 Agnieska Holland-directed film for Warner Bros.

There had been a lot of interest in the project with the hope that del Toro would direct, but he’s so been too busy with his other projects, including preparing to release his latest film Pacific Rim this summer and working on a sequel, developing his critically acclaimed film Pan’s Labyrinth into a stage musical, and helming the haunted house film Crimson Peak. In addition, he’s set to direct the pilot for an FX series adaptation of The Strain, the apocalyptic vampire novel.