Robert Ludlum's “Janson Directive” Heading for Big Screen

Studios are kinda like little kids: they'll sit there shaking their piggy bank until every last penny falls out.

Having made a mint on Robert Ludlum's "Bourne" novels, Universal is turning to another of the author's works, "The Jansen Directive," reported Deadline.

Published posthumously, the book follows Paul Janson, an ex-Navy Seal haunted by memories of Vietnam, where his mentor was a man of such insane cruelty that he had him arrested for war crimes. Janson goes on to make a living as a security consultant, and is hired to rescue Nobel Peace Laureate and billionaire, Peter Novak, but things go horribly wrong, and in fighting for his life Janson, Janson discovers a decades'-old conspiracy.

The book is being adapted by John Hlavin, who recently made the Blacklist with his script called "The Gunslinger,' and penned the upcoming "Underworld Awakening." And the film is being produced by Ben Smith and Jeffrey Weiner for Captivate, which is also working on adaptations of Ludlum's "The Parsifal Mosaic" and "The Osterman Weekend."

"The Bourne Legacy," starring Jeremy Renner, arrives Aug. 3, 2102.

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