EXCLUSIVE: Dan Mintz’s DMG Entertainment has tapped xXx: Return Of Xander Cage writer F Scott Frazier to adapt fantasy novel Mistborn: The Final Empire. This is the first book in Brandon Sanderson’s popular trilogy published by Tor Books. The Mistborn series is one of two key franchises Mintz looks to launch cinematically within the library of Sanderson’s Cosmere, a shared universe of fantasy novels and other works acquired by DMG in October. The Beijing- and LA-based company will co-finance The Final Empire with a Hollywood major and Mintz will produce the franchise. Sanderson and Joshua Blimes will serve as executive producers.

Mistborn: The Final Empire, released in July 2006, is set in a medieval dystopian future on the world Scadrial, where supernatural mists cloud every night. Central to the series universe is the presence of magic. A street urchin with a hidden, yet powerful gift, joins the leader of a reckless den of thieves to fight a merciless immortal force as the last hope to bring peace back to The Final Empire.

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Frazier will start the The Final Empire adaptation just as Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan deliver an initial draft of Sanderson’s first book in The Stormlight Archive, The Way Of Kings.

Sanderson has published numerous novels and won the 2013 Hugo Award with The Emperor’s Soul. In 2016, he released the Cosmere short fiction collection Arcanum Unbounded, the fifth volume in the Alcatraz Vs The Evil Librarians series and the conclusion of the bestselling young adult Reckoners series, Calamity. Fox acquired the Reckoners series film rights in 2015 for Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps, with Carter Blanchard writing.

Hot Hollywood scribe Frazier is also adapting Empress, the top selling Mark Millar graphic novel acquired by Joe Roth and Jeff Kirschenbaum, as well as The Good Spy, a biography of CIA operative Robert Ames acquired by Parkes+MacDonald.

Global entertainment and media outfit DMG, which has a strong track record in China via its Shenzhen listed component DMG Yinji, has been very active in developing its fully-owned IP. In November, the CW set a Dr. Mirage series based on the Valiant graphic novel. DMG Yinji pacted with Valiant last year to mine the indie comic book publisher’s stable for film and TV properties.

DMG is also in post-production on the John Curran-helmed Chappaquiddick, and has the Terminatory 2 3D conversion debuting at the Berlin Film Festival next month. It also recently partnered with Warner Bros on the Ed Helms and Owen Wilson comedy, Bastards. Further, the studio will soon begin production on the Leslie Mann comedy The Pact, alongside Good Universe, Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg.

Frazier is repped by CAA, DMG Entertainment and attorney Jeff Frankel. Sanderson is repped by APA, Joshua Bilmes at JABberwocky and attorney Matt Sugarman at Weintraub Tobin. Tor Books is the publisher for Sanderson’s literary works.