According to the Hollywood Reporter, New Line Cinema has acquired the feature film rights to Naoki Urasawa's 18-volume manga series, Monster -- a psychological thriller that has sold over 25 million copies in Japan.  Monster, which has already been adapted into a TV anime by Madhouse Studios, is the story of a doctor who saves the life of a small boy (rather than the life of an important local politician) only to find out later that the boy has turned into a brilliant and sadistic killer.  The Monster anime series, which was first broadcast in 2004 in Japan and currently includes 46 episodes, has not yet been licensed for the U.S.

Shogakukan publishes the Monster manga in Japan and is involved as the executive producer of the New Line adaptation.  Monster's Shogakukan lineage means that it is extremely likely that Viz will publish the manga series in the U.S, though the property has not yet been announced.