Warner Brothers, in always looking for the next big thing—especially now that their Harry Potter series has come to an end (…for now)—has acquired the feature film rights to Otherland, the sci-fi tetralogy by author Tad Williams.

The studio has also brought in screenwriter John Scott III to pen the first script of what they hope turns into multiple scripts in a successful new franchise.

The series of books includes four installments published between 1996 and 2001, titled City of Golden Shadow, River of Blue Fire, Mountain of Black Glass, and Sea of Silver Light.

They take place in a world about 100 years in the future where the internet has evolved into a fully immersive virtual reality so incredible that you can basically enter an almost lucid dream type state, able to experience any time or any life or any story you wish as if it were real.

Called the Net (keep in mind the first book was released way back in ’96), these simulations offer users the chance to enter into their own interpretations of classic works of literature as Through the Looking-Glass, The Odyssey, The Iliad, The War of the Worlds, and The Wizard of Oz, or even live in today’s equivalent of an MMORPG based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

The planned first WB movie will follow a “group of unlikely heroes” (probably normal everyday folks in this amazing virtual world) who find themselves on a journey through many different areas of the virtual reality trying to uncover the answers to a conspiracy that could destroy humanity, all while an assassin is on their trail.

Speaking of MMOs, there’s one based on the Otherland series in the works that will supposedly release some time in 2012.

[Source: Showblitz]