Variety reports that Paramount has purchased the rights to Charlie Fletcher's "Stoneheart" fantasy, and get this: It's only the first chapter of a trilogy! Imagine that...

"Paramount Pictures has acquired screen rights to "Stoneheart," the first installment of a fantasy trilogy about ancient statues that come to life in London. Scott Rudin and Lorenzo Di Bonaventura will produce. Deal for rights and for author Charlie Fletcher to write the script was near seven figures.

British-born Fletcher spent time in Hollywood as screenwriter on such forgettable films as "Mean Machine" and the Cindy Crawford starrer "Fair Game." He moved back to Britain and has been writing regularly on such BBC series as "Taggart" and "Afterlife."

In "Stoneheart," a shy 12-year-old on a class trip to London's war museum knocks the head off a stone dragon and quickly finds himself menaced by stone serpents that adorned the museum and have come to life. The kid is saved by the bronze statue of a soldier."