Catherine Hardwicke, who directed the highly successful screen adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight, is in talks with Sony to direct an adaptation of another popular young adult fantasy series, James Patterson’s Maximum Ride.  Ex-Marvel honcho Avi Arad is producing the adaptation of Patterson’s tale of six teens who have been genetically altered so that they can fly (see “Arad Set for Maximum Ride”).  The five-volume Maximum Ride series should provide plenty of material for a franchise—and Yen Press’ Maximum Ride graphic novels have done very well (see “BookScan’s Top 20 Graphic Novels for January,” and “BookScan’s Top 20 Graphic Novels for February”).

In addition to a possible stint on Maximum Ride, Variety is reporting that Hardwicke has agreed to direct an adaptation of yet another young adult novel, Gayle Forman’s If I Stay, which is set to be published this spring by Dutton.  To some it might appear that Y.A. novels may soon be replacing comic books as Tinseltown’s favorite source material.