2000AD Film News in The Times !

[Marbles]

Today's Times has a piece about Superhereoes in films, with a big bit at the end about 2000AD, Dredd & John Wagner etc...

"All of which makes it a pity that Britainâ??s uniquely dark comic-book heroes have struggled to get big-screen recognition. The weekly science-fiction comic 2000ADis famous for its cynical humour and antiestablishment smarts. According to its CEO, Jason Kingsley, â??most of our heroes are heavily flawed, or odd, or different. It can be hard for American producers. Theyâ??ll say things like: â??So what powers does Judge Dredd have â?? can he fly?â?? â?

The mood is changing, though, and in addition to the constant stream of producers optioning the film rights to 2000AD characters, negotiations on two of them are now so sensitive and advanced that Kingsley cannot reveal which ones they are."

Much more on the link below...

Link: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article1894330.ece" target="_blank">Kapow - The new film superheroes!

[Noisybast]

Why do all comics-related newspaper articles have to contain the word "Kapow!" in the title?

[Keef Monkey]

Ha, the curse of the Kapow will never be vanquished. Wasn't Nikolai Dante sold to a film studio ages back? It would mak a potentially great movie, Rogue Trooper also has the potential to work. Will be interesting to see what the 2 candidates are.

[Radbacker]

OOohhh, wonder wich ones.  My guess would be a Stront movie(Western in space, gotta have some legs in todays market) and maybee Rogue Trooper, war movies are big right now too.
Personally I'd love a Dante mini series rather than movie but I'd take what was offered.

CU Radbacker

[radiator]

One of them has to be Button Man, surely?

[Noisybast]

Button Man & Dredd, I'd have thought.

[JOE SOAP]

It's Buttonman, as it's already in development and he mentions it in the article. I doubt it's another Dredd film.

[IndigoPrime]

Button Man's already in pre-production, according to most sources, so I'd be surprised if that was one of the series Jason was referring to. I'll also be surprised if Dredd gets another outing. Despite being by far the most adaptable and wide-ranging series 2000 AD has, the Stallone movie has pretty much killed the brand's credibility, and it would take a very brave company to fork out the 60â??100 million that a Dredd movie would require.

Rogue Trooper makes senseâ??you could wrap up the entire thing in one well-written movie, and war films go down well; future warâ??in a more serious contextâ??is less common, but Rogue Trooper was more often about the dirty side of conflict than sci-fi.

Strontium Dog? That would make a fantastic series of movies, from an origins (Portrait of a Mutant), right through to Final Solution. It also has handy hooks into existing propertiesâ??X-Men meets Firefly, anyone? That said, comparisons to Firefly/Serenity wouldn't be entirely helpful, given the fact that both were relative commercial failures.

Personally, after seeing that Spanish Sláine piece, I'd like to see a Sin City-style (i.e. bluescreened) Sláine trilogy: berserker/king/horned god.

[[YT-2]]

>It's Buttonman, as it's already in development and he mentions it in the article. I doubt it's another Dredd film.

Button Man is creator owned so doubt if Rebellion would be involved.

[Radbacker]

doh, forgot about Buttonman but surelly this one is in production so wouldn't count to the two new ones?

CU Radbacker

[Keef Monkey]

"Barbarella, is also due a remake, at the hands of Robert Rodriguez â?? as long as the flop of his Grindhouse does not threaten this project as it has Sin City 2."

Is there some bad news about Sin City 2 that I haven't heard yet?

[Buddy]

Is there some bad news about Sin City 2 that I haven't heard yet?

What I think that means is that because of the poor reception of Grindhouse it has cast doubt on upcoming Redriguez productions.

As for the two 2000ad characters for possible movie treatment.. I'd like to see Strontium Dog and Rogue Trooper done properly of course.

I suspect we'll end up with Beck & Kawl and Angel (the series from ages ago about the pilot who got 'merged' with his computer, not the gang).

Oh, Calabalistics would be great too. (but better as a TV series).

[Keef Monkey]

Yeah, just the way it was worded made it sound like Sin City 2 had been scuppered which would be a shame.

[Buttonman]

Marvel fair churn them out - has anyone seen the Man-thing film they did in 2005? I never even saw that in the DVD bargain bin.

As for 2000ad I can exclusively reveal the two properties being fast tracked to a silver screen near you.Obvious really, just watch the news - Animal testing, vegetarianism, London Olympics = DEAD MEAT. Green issues, redesigned police uniforms = TRASH.

Can wait!

[Steve Green]

Buttonman is mentioned elsewhere in the article as being optioned by Dreamworks.

I'm hoping it would be Strontium Dog or Rogue Trooper.

I reckon Nikolai Dante is one of them though, seems more Hollywood to me - although I could see them plumping for Sin/Dex even though that came from Pulp Fiction in the first place.

Savage at an outside chance?

- Steve