Beloved ‘70s Book Series Getting First Major Movie Adaptation
In 1976, a groundbreaking children's book series transformed reading into an interactive adventure that let kids decide their own fate.
Now, the beloved Choose Your Own Adventure franchise is officially heading to the big screen.
According to a new report from Deadline, 20th Century Studios is developing a feature adaptation of the long-running book series, with filmmaking team Radio Silence attached to direct and produce.
The directing team of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett is best known for horror hits including Ready or Not, Scream V, Scream VI, and Abigail. The screenplay will reportedly be written by Tom Bissell, whose credits include Andor and The Disaster Artist.
First launched nationally by Bantam Books in 1979 with The Cave of Time, the Choose Your Own Adventure franchise actually began several years earlier as an experimental series called Adventures of You. Created by author Edward Packard and originally published through Vermont Crossroads Press, the interactive concept debuted in 1976 with Packard's Sugarcane Island. Written in the second person, the books allowed readers to step directly into the role of the protagonist and make choices that changed the outcome of the story.
The books covered everything from haunted houses and spy missions to outer space adventures and fantasy worlds. Rather than reading from beginning to end, readers flipped between pages based on decisions they made throughout the story, often leading to wildly different endings.
The format became hugely popular with young readers because no two reading experiences felt exactly the same. Some books featured dozens of possible endings, encouraging children to reread the same story repeatedly in search of new paths and hidden twists.
The franchise ultimately became one of the bestselling children's series of all time, selling more than 250 million copies worldwide and being translated into dozens of languages, according to Publisher's Weekly.
The concept originally began when Packard started improvising branching bedtime stories for his daughters.
"What really struck me was the natural enthusiasm they had for the idea," Packard later recalled in a 1981 Associated Press article about the storytelling experiment that inspired the books.
Though the series faded in popularity during the rise of home video games in the 1990s, its influence on modern entertainment has remained enormous. Interactive storytelling concepts popularized by the books later inspired everything from narrative-driven video games to Netflix's experimental Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.
Deadline reported that the new film will mark the first major feature adaptation of the franchise. Plot details are currently being kept under wraps.
Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 1:27 PM.