Atom Egoyan could have a happy ending for his next film.

The Canadian director is developing a feature film that will dramatize the case of the West Memphis Three — Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley Jr and Jason Baldwin — based on the 2003 book Devil’s Knot by journalist Mara Leveritt.

The trio were convicted in 1993 for murdering three children in Arkansas, and then freed last week under a controversial plea that allowed the men to assert their innocence, while accepting there was sufficient evidence to convict them.

The indie movie, to focus on the original trial for the West Memphis Three and the pain and grief of its participants, is in development at Dimension Films.

Scott Derrickson and Paul Boardman wrote a screenplay that Egoyan is reworking.

A spring 2012 shoot is tentatively planned for the $20 million project, which Elizabeth Fowler and Clark Peterson will produce with screenwriters Derrickson and Boardman.

News of the Egoyan project was first reported in Deadline Hollywood.