MUMBAI: DreamWorks Studios has acquired the rights to the young adult book series Wicked.

Aaron and Matthew Benay have signed on to write the adaptation based on their own pitch. The Gotham Group will produce.

A New York Times bestselling series and published by Simon & Schuster, Wicked is a five book series written by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié. The first two books, Witch and Curse, were published in 2002, followed by Legacy and Spellbound in 2003. The fifth book, Resurrection, was published this past summer.

Story follows the journey of a young woman who learns she is a descendent of a powerful coven of witches. Complications arise when she falls in love with a boy who turns out to be a member of a rival coven sworn to destroy her family.

DreamWorks Studios co-president production Mark Sourian said, "Wicked has all the elements for a great movie–adventure, mystery, star-crossed lovers, bitter enemies, and the supernatural. Aaron and Matthew came in with an intriguing take on the books and a story that we feel will really speak to all audiences."

Aaron and Matthew Benay, who are brothers, wrote the script for 1906, which Pixar, Warner Brothers, and director Brad Bird are readying for release in 2012.

Best-selling author Nancy Holder has published sixty books and more than two hundred short stories. She has received four Bram Stoker awards for fiction from the Horror Writers Association, and her books have been translated into more than two dozen languages. She has written or co-written twenty Buffy and Angel projects based on the characters from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer film and television series.

Debbie Viguié is author of the Once upon a Time novels Scarlet Moon and Midnight Pearls, as well as the Sweet Seasons novels The Summer of Cotton Candy, The Fall of Candy Corn, The Winter of Candy Canes, and The Spring of Candy Apples.