Fox 2000 has set Matt Reeves to direct The Passage, the film based on the bestselling Justin Cronin novel about an experiment that goes awry and creates a swarm of bloodthirsty vampires that brings the world to the brink of extinction. Fox acquired the book in 2007 for north of $3 million right after Cronin (the PEN Hemingway Award winner originally submitted the book under a pseudonym) made a 3-book deal with Ballantine for $3.75 million based on the first 400 pages of the book and an outline for a novel series. Reeves directed Cloverfield and the remake Let Me In.
In The Passage, a group of terminally ill cancer patients get healthy after being subjected to the bites of bats in South America. Naturally, the government see this as a cure for the disease and starts experimenting. They end up with a legion of nearly indestructible, telepathic vampire masters that begin infecting the populace.
