Fox Acquires Self Published Sci-Fi Novel ‘CyberStorm’ For Chernin Entertainment
By MIKE FLEMING JR
EXCLUSIVE: 20th Century Fox has acquired CyberStorm, a self-published book by Matthew Mather that I’ve been told Chernin Entertainment will take on as producer. Described as a frighteningly realistic depiction of what would happen in the event of a global digital meltdown from an organized attack, the book follows a New York man and his family as they try and survive the crash isolated in Manhattan with millions of scared and confused people around him. The original e-book has caught on fast since it came out in March, and is now up there with the likes of the World War Z, Ender’s Game and Game Of Thrones e-books in Amazon sci-fi sales. It’s moving about 1500 copies a day. Mather, a cybersecurity expert and author who started out his career working at the McGill Center for Intelligent Machines, is now exploring a traditional print publishing deal after inking rights pacts for Turkey, Spain and Germany. The Fox deal was made by Sean Daily at Hotchkiss and Associates with Paul Lucas at Janklow & Nesbit Associates.
Fox finances Chernin Entertainment-released films and they are currently basking in the success of their most recent tie-up The Heat, the Melissa McCarthy-Sandra Bullock buddy comedy that opened June 28 to a cool $40 million. A sequel to that one is already in the works.