Is this the next big franchise?

Gavin O’Connor certainly made a large splash last year with the riveting sports drama Warrior. An overlooked feature, the film earned a well-deserve Oscar nod with Nick Nolte’s performance, and O’Connor has racked up plenty of promising projects since then. Now, it seems he’s ready to delve back into the gritty as he’s signed up for another film that will see him dealing with a violent crime world. Meanwhile, the man responsible for the world of Real Steel is also returning behind the camera. With adaptations all the rage, it seems Dreamworks is flexing their own projects by possibly having a hit series under their belts as well.

Deadline reports that Universal hired O’Connor to directYakuza, which is described as a contemporary Japan-set thriller…[focused on] an American intelligence expert who becomes embroiled in the affairs of a notorious yakuza godfather and finds himself plunged into the violent criminal underworld and toxic landscape of post-tsunami Japan.”

O’Connor is also going to rewrite the script with co-write Josh Fagin, with Brian Grazer producing. This is the director’s third project, after a Peter Pan reimagining called Neverland for Universal Pictures, and an early script called The Samurai for WB.

Meanwhile, the site also reports that Shawn Levy is in the process of making a deal with Dreamworks Pictures to direct The 39 Clues. Orginally bought as a directorial vehicle for Steven Spielberg, and even Brett Ratner at one point, the intention is now to have Levy launch the first novel as a franchise as he did for Night at the Museum.

“The book series revolves around the Cahills, a powerful family who count Napoleon and Houdini among their relatives. The movie is framed as an epic family adventure about two ordinary kids whose discovery that they are part of the world’s most powerful family sets them off on a globe-trotting treasure hunt.”