According to The Hollywood Reporter, New Line Cinema has acquired feature film rights to Monster, a best-selling Japanese manga comic book series from author Naoki Urasawa.

Monster is a psychological thriller that tells the story of a young doctor who saves the life of a little boy only to find out a few years later that the life he saved was that of a brilliant killer. The doctor must then track down the young killer and solve a larger conspiracy.

Urasawa is a manga master in Japan, where Monster has been adapted into an animated television series and has spawned 18 volumes as a manga series. The "Monster" mangas have sold more than 25 million copies in Japan, and it has a strong following in Asia and Europe. The book's publisher, Shogakukan Inc., is executive producing the project. Shogakukan was behind the Pokemon series.