20th Century Fox is nearing a deal to acquire the rights to Choose Your Own Adventure, the iconic 1980s book line, with John Davis and John Fox of Davis Entertainment attached to produce what the studio hopes will be a crossplatform four-quadrant action-adventure franchise.

The books were known for their forked or stacked storytelling, allowing readers to choose the path of the characters every few pages, with the decisions leading to different fates, good and bad.

The concept came from Edward Packard, who tried and failed several times to get a book off the ground. In 1975, he partnered with R. A. Montgomery, then an aspiring author and a publisher at a small Vermont-based press. The initial books had modest sales, and it wasn't until Montgomery made a deal with Bantam Books in the late 1970s that the series became a huge hit, inciting spinoffs and imitators.

The line went on to last until the late 1990s, with over 180 titles and 250 million books sold worldwide.

Packard and Montgomery authored many of the initial titles themselves, but eventually started subcontracting out to other writers. When the two parted ways, Montgomery retained the rights to his stories and -- more importantly from a brand point of view -- the name; he now runs Chooseco Llc. Packard kept the rights to his books and created U-Ventures, which is creating divergent storytelling apps.

Fox will have all screen rights to the property and will be able to adapt it for multiple platforms. The next step is figuring out what the action-adventure story or stories will be, as the book series ran the gamut of locations (from the Sahara desert to the Altair solar system), time periods and genres (from mysteries to sci-fi and beyond).

Montgomery will act as an executive producer with his wife and Chooseco partner, Shannon Gilligan.

The property has attracted a host of suitors over the years (even Nicole Kidman pursued it at one time when she had a producing deal at Fox), with the Vermont movie neophytes courted by both producers and agencies. The deal, in the seven-figure range according to sources, is almost a decade in the making and a coup for Davis.

Damien Saccani, who helped Chooseco navigate the Hollywood labyrinth over the years, will also act as an executive producer along with Daniela Taplin of Red Crown.

Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon, the writers of Fox's Night at the Museum franchise, are in final negotiations to write the script for the studio's adaptation of iconic 1980s book line Choose Your Own Adventure.

Additionally, We're the Millers director Rawson Marshall Thurber has closed a deal to helm the adaptation.

The books were known for their stacked storytelling, which allowed a reader to make decisions for a character, leading to an untimely demise or a fruitful resolution.

It is unclear what approach Lennon and Garant will take, but they have plenty of material to choose from. A myriad of genres were covered by the line and its 180-plus titles, from mysteries (Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey?) to Westerns (Deadwood City) to espionage (Your Code Name Is Jonah) to space and beyond (Space and Beyond).

John Davis and John Fox of Davis Entertainment are producing. Damien Saccani is executive producing along with Daniela Taplin of Red Crown.

Mike Ireland is overseeing at Fox.

Lennon and Garant have already proven themselves in the family adventure field with the Museum movies, the third of which is in pre-production and has actors Ben Kingsley and Dan Stevens as newcomers to the Ben Stiller franchise, which has so far grossed almost a billion dollars. Lennon and Garant are repped by CAA, Principato-Young and attorney Karl Austen of Jackoway Tyerman.

Thurber, who wrote and directed the hit comedy Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story for Fox, is repped by CAA and Hansen Jacobson.