Production Underway, Film Synopsis for Seventh Son

It was a little over a year ago that we first learned that Jeff Bridges had been cast in Seventh Son, the film adaptation of the first book in "The Last Apprentice" series of young adult fantasy thrillers, Revenge of the Witch. Now we're hearing that production has finally begun on the film, and the studio has released an official synopsis:

In a time long past, an evil is about to be unleashed that will reignite the war between the forces of the supernatural and humankind once more. Master Gregory (Jeff Bridges) is a knight who had imprisoned the malevolently powerful witch, Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore), centuries ago. But now she has escaped and is seeking vengeance. Summoning her followers of every incarnation, Mother Malkin is preparing to unleash her terrible wrath on an unsuspecting world. Only one thing stands in her way: Master Gregory.

In a deadly reunion, Gregory comes face to face with the evil he always feared would someday return. Now he has only until the next full moon to do what usually takes years: train his new apprentice, Tom Ward (Ben Barnes) to fight a dark magic unlike any other. Man's only hope lies in the seventh son of a seventh son.

"The Last Apprentice" series of books — which are published in the UK as "The Wardstone Chronicles" — are written by Joseph Delaney. Eight (nine in the UK) have been published to date, with more to come. Potential for franchise? But of course!

Seventh Son is expected to open in theaters in early 2013.