Does this guy ever stop? Not satisfied with just kicking back with a cold beer and counting his millions raked in from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull… Steven Spielberg is now eyeing up yet another major directorial project in The 39 Clues.

This will mean that by the end of 2011 the veteran will have potentially directed 5 feature films and had a production hand on at least a further 4 projects (including the upcoming Eagle Eye, which today has a new trailer released).

The 39 Clues, a “multiplatform adventure series” created by Scholastic Media, is said to have solds rights for a film production to Dreamworks following discussions with CEO Stacey Snider. For those unfamiliar with the series, it is set to launch later this year and will feature a total of 10 books as well as collectible cards and board games. The books are said to be aimed at readers aged 8 to 12 years.

Empire tells us this about the story (of course, I could quite easily have reworded this, but it seems a lot of effort for 9am)…

“The story of the books revolves around the mega-rich Cahill family, who can trace their ancestry back to both Napoleon and Houdini, and whose matriarch, Grace, changes her will on her death bed. She offers each of her descendants the choice of a clue to the “source of the family’s powers”, which presumably means money. That, or some Da Vinci Code-like secret.”

Scholastic Media have expressed how they believe there to be enough material for as many as 4 movies.

We can expect an announcement soon on a prospective screenwriter for the project and, unsurprisingly, no release date has been set.