Ellen DeGeneres' first movie venture as a producer will be the big screen adaptation of Naomi Novik's fantasy novel, "Uprooted," according to The Hollywood Reporter. Warner Bros. won the rights to the book after a stiff bidding competition against Lionsgate and Fox 2000. Degeneres is set to produce the movie under her A Very Good Production banner, alongside her business partner Jeff Kleeman. It was reported that Kleeman brought the book to Degeneres' attention.

"Uprooted" follows Agnieszka, a simple village girl who lives in a mystical woods protected by a powerful wizard named Dragon. As price for his protection, the recluse Dragon is to choose a girl from the village to live with him and become his servant for 10 years. The young women of the village dread to be chosen by Dragon, believing that he will eat them. As the day of the choosing is fast-approaching, Agnieszka and the rest of the villagers are certain that Dragon will prefer the beautiful and brave Kasia, but to everyone's surprise, the wizard selected the rather plain Agnieszka.

The book won praises from critically-acclaimed authors upon its release last May. "Every so often you come upon a story that seems like a lost tale of Grimm newly come to light," author Gregory Maguire said. He added, "'Uprooted' is such a novel. Its narrative spell is confidently wrought and sympathetically cast. I might even call it bewitching." Maguire is the best-selling author of "Wicked" and other popular fantasy novels. Lev Grossman, who authored the "Magicians" trilogy, said that Uprooted is "wild, thrilling, and deeply, darkly magical," while the author of "Mortal Instruments" series Cassandra Clare calls the novel "a delight." (via Novik's official website)

Novik used her Polish roots as inspiration for "Uprooted" which the fairytale and folktale themes have been compared to other literary classics such as "Beauty and the Beast" and Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki's "Howl's Moving Castle" .

The American author's "Temeraire" series gained recognition among the sci-fi/fantasy audiences. The novelist went on to win various awards for the series, and currently has a total of eight novels. The ninth book in the series is set to be published in 2016. In 2006, film director Peter Jackson reportedly wanted to adapt the series for the big screen as well, according to The Guardian.

The upcoming movie adaptation will be DeGeneres' debut as a movie producer. Most of her and her production company's producer credits are for TV, including her daily talk show "Ellen."