Kung Fu High School coming to theaters

The film rights for Ryan Gattis’s Kung Fu High School were bought by Harvey and Bob Weinstein’s newly established production outfit, The Weinstein Company, The Hollywood Reporter says.

Kung Fu High School, Gattis’s first novel, delves into a grim world in which a high school is run by the drug-dealing, single-named menace Ridley, who controls the principal and the students, who in turn band together to learn martial arts to protect themselves.

The book was originally published last February in the U.K., by Hodder Mobius, and in the U.S., in September, by Harvest. Ernesto Foronda wrote the screenplay for the movie, for which he will reportedly receive $800,000 if the movie is made.

The Weinstein Co. and Dimension Films will produce, with Neal Edelstein and Mike Macari overseeing the book-to-film.