Hugh Jackman and Eli Stone co-creator Marc Guggenheim are teaming with Virgin Comics to create Nowhere Man, a new, original comicbook series, Variety reports.

Jackman said: “I’ve had so much fun in the graphic novel world with the X-Men franchise that I wanted to get even more involved. I’m excited to work with Virgin and Marc and create a compelling character and story that hopefully will also make it to the bigscreen.”

Discuss Nowhere Man on the X-Boards

Posted in Books & Comics, Movies •

More sad news today with the passing of legendary writer Arthur C. Clarke. The Somerset-born author came to fame in 1968 when short story The Sentinel was made into the film 2001: A Space Odyssey by director Stanley Kubrick but was well known for his sci-fi novels like the Rama series, Childhood’s End and The Songs of Distant Earth.

An aide said he died at 1:30am local time in Sri Lanka after a cardio-respiratory attack.

Our sympathies go out to Mr Clarke’s family.

Posted in Books & Comics •

Terry Pratchett’s first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, adapted for TV by Mob Films is to screen Easter weekend on Sky One in the UK.

Speaking to the Guardian, Pratchett said “When Mob Films called, I nearly said no because I hadn’t heard of them. And then they had another go and I said, ‘Look, we’re going to have a nice chat, get along very well, have a nice dinner and then your head will burst open and the tentacles will come out.’ And they said: ‘Oh no. We’re very nice people.’ And I said: ‘Everyone says that. No one says they’re bastards.’ Fortunately, there was a total absence of tentacles. It was rather like a family - rows, sulks, people shouting at each other - but no tentacles, which is the important thing.”

You can read the complete interview here and read about the adaptation here.

Discuss The Colour of Magic on the X-Boards

Posted in Books & Comics, Television •

Universal Pictures and Dark Horse Entertainment have signed a three-year deal that gives the film studio creative access to all Dark Horse characters and properties, as well as any material that Dark Horse might acquire on its own and want to develop as a motion picture.

Universal Pictures is opening Hellboy II: The Golden Army, directed by Guillermo del Toro and based on Mike Mignola’s Dark Horse Comics character, on July 11, 2008.

Other original titles published by Dark Horse Comics include 300, Sin City, The Mask, X, Rex Mundi, Samurai: Heaven and Earth and many more which can be reference via Wikipedia.

Discuss Hellboy II: The Golden Army on the X-Boards

Posted in Books & Comics, Movies •

Following on from his role in The Pursuit of Happyness, Jaden Smith will team up with his sister Willow in an upcoming adaption of Flight and Copper illustrator Kazu Kibuishi’s Amulet.

The graphic novel centers on a brother and sister who move into their late great-grandfather’s home after their father dies. They must use his amulet to rescue their widowed mother from a beast who lures her into an underground world. Five books are planned in the Scholastic series, with the second installment due for release this year.

Discuss Amulet on the X-Boards

Posted in Books & Comics, Movies •

Paramount Pictures has acquired the rights to the upcoming Douglas TenNapel graphic novel Monster Zoo which is to be published in the Spring. The live-action adaptation will be produced by Sam Raimi and Josh Donen under their Buckaroo Entertainment banner and Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein.

TenNapel, whose past graphic creations include Earthworm Jim and Cat Scratch, tells the story of a young boy who discovers his local zoo may be more frightening than he imagined.

Discuss Monster Zoo on the X-Boards

Posted in Books & Comics, Movies •

IDW publishing is set to continue their comic book series that picks up from where the original Star Trek television series ended, with a chronicle of the Starship Enterprise’s untold fourth year.

D.C. Fontana, who started her career as Gene Roddenberry’s assistant during the Original Series and went on to write some of Star Trek’s most memorable episodes will pen the saga with co-writer Derek Chester (Star Trek: Legacy) and longtime Star Trek artist Gordon Purcell.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Books & Comics, Star Trek •

Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3) is working with Virgin Comics to adapt graphic novel The Megas reports Variety.

The graphic novel, scripted by John Harrison and drawn by Peter Rubin, presupposes an America that has a ruling class called the Megas, for whom there is a special set of laws. A detective who believes in the monarchy rethinks his position after investigating a crime that reveals ugly truths about the elite society.

It’s unclear whether Mostow will write the script or direct the feature adaptation;  he and Virgin Comics chief creative officer Gotham Chopra and CEO Sharad Devarajan will begin shopping the project shortly. The graphic novel is the latest title in the Director’s Cut series, with previous installments involving John Woo, Nicolas and Weston Cage and Guy Ritchie.

Discuss The Megas on the X-Boards

Posted in Books & Comics, Movies •

In an interview with SCI FI Wire ,  Shazam! Director Peter Segal has explained that although the writer’s strike has delayed his adaptation of the classic comic book,  the project is still very much in development.

‘I think it’ll still happen,‘ said Segal ‘Though timing is going to be a key issue now, because, whereas before, normally we’d be working on a script while we’re in post-production [on Get Smart], so that hopefully when we’re done with post-production, we’re ready to go into preproduction. But now we’re sort of out of sync, so, unfortunately, I’ll have to spend more time with my family.’

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Books & Comics, Movies •

Dimension Films has purchased the film rights to Joe Hill’s graphic novel Locke & Key with the intention of developing a potential franchise writes Variety.

Hill, the son of legendary horror scribe Stephen King, made his first screen sale with his debut novel, Heart-Shaped Box, which Warner Bros. is developing.  Locke & Key tells of Keyhouse, an unlikely New England mansion, with fantastic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them…. and home to a hate-filled and relentless creature that will not rest until it forces open the most terrible door of them all.

‘I love what Joe wrote. There are fun elements that horror fans love, and it feels like a franchise where you can feel satisfied with each film, but there is a door left open for the next one,’ said Dimension chief Bob Weinstein.

Discuss Locke & Key on the X-Boards

Posted in Books & Comics, Movies •