'Underworld: Awakening' Directing Duo to Adapt Cult Swedish Horror Novel

COLOGNE, Germany - Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein, the Swedish directing team behind Underworld: Awakening, are returning to home turf for their next project: an adaptation of the horror novel, Collected Swedish Cults, from author Andres Fager.

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Mårlind will adapt Fager's novel compilation for the screen and co-direct with Stein. Underworld: Awakening, the latest in the horror franchise starring Kate Beckinsale, has grossed some $157 million worldwide.

Karl Fredrik Ulfung of Sweden's Svensk Filmindustri will produce. Collected Swedish Cults is expected to hit local theaters in late 2013.

Fager's novel, published last year, takes the form of a collection of supernatural horror tales about good vs. evil that together create a larger story.

"Collected Swedish Cults has everything I love, but also demand as a film’s must-have ingredients; surprising stories with gripping and engaging characters, its own credible universe and a tone of its own," said Mårlind.

"Måns and I have astonishingly similar taste and a fascination for morbid stories," added author Anders Fager.  "(He) feels like the perfect scriptwriter for Collected Swedish Cults. I’ve had several meetings already with Svensk Filmindustri and Måns, and am told there is a first draft very soon."

Fager is represented by publisher the Bonnier Group and the film deal was brokered by Bonnier Group Agency's Judith Toth and producer Ulfung.