According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. Pictures has acquired the soon-to-be published young-adult fantasy manuscript Endymion Spring for Alysia Cotter and her new production banner, Bueller Films.

Endymion is set in present-day Oxford and in 1450s Germany, at the dawn of printing. A young printer's apprentice discovers a mysterious chest with clasps that look like snakes heads -- with fangs that are rumored to be poisoned. When he touches it, the fangs pierce his fingers, drawing blood, and the chest opens. It contains a secret that will endure for more than 500 years until one lonely boy accidentally discovers it, beginning a quest for knowledge and power that puts him and humanity in grave danger.

The book, by Matthew Skelton, is due to be published next year by Penguin in the U.K. and Delacourt in U.S. First-time author Skelton is an Oxford grad with a Ph.D. in English literature.