Comic Books Come to Life

January 30, 2003

Movies based on Comic Books are entering a new Golden Age. When X-Men was a hit in 2000 movie studios started snapping up every comic book property they could get their hands on. After since last years highest grossing domestic film, Spider-Man, is also based on a comic book, look for this trend to continue.

Upcoming Comic Book movies include:

Daredevil: Starring Ben Afleck, Jennifer Garner and Michael Clarke Duncan. In the Marvel Universe, Daredevil and Spider-Man live and work in the same city, but since the two licensing deals went to two different movie companies all references to one another had to be removed from the films. Opens in two weeks on February 14th.

X2: Sequel to X-Men, starring Patrick Stewart, Famke Jannsen, Anna Paquin, Alan Cumming, and many, many more. With a production schedule that was more flexible than the first movie’s, X2 should be bigger and better than the first. Release date is May 2nd, 2003.

The Hulk: Starring Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly and a whole lot of CGI. Variety reports that the F/X for The Hulk is expected to break new ground, although it is hard to imagine the F/X could beat Gollum from The Two Towers. Release date is June 20th, 2003.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: A comic book of a most unusual nature. Set in the late 19th century England and with a cast of characters from Sean Connery as Allan Quatermain to Shane West as Tom Sawyer this Alan Moore comic book could be the most unique comic book movie in a long time. Release date is July 11th, 2003.

Batman: We could write a weekly column dedicated to who is attached to direct Batman. This week it’s Memento director, Chris Nolan. Release date is to be announced.

Superman: This movie is playing musical directors like Batman, but with the lead actors as well. Josh Hartnett, Jude Law, Ashton Kutcher and Brendan Fraser are among the actors rumored to suit up as The Man of Steel. To Confuse matters more, some of the directors will only direct if their choice for Superman is cast. And Vice versa. The longer this soap-opera continues the more appealing it is to have Nicolas Cage star in the Kevin Smith scripted Superman.

Ghost Rider: Speaking of Nicolas Cage, he will be starring in Ghost Rider. Without only slight script problems, (The first draft was too violent for the PG-13 rating the studio was going for.) this movie should get underway shortly. Release date is also to be announced.

Danger Girls: Jessica Biel is rumored to be the front-runner to star in this adaptation of J. Scott Campbell’s independent comic. One of the hottest, if least punctual, independent comic books is based around an organization of female adventurers / super spies.

And there’s many more, including sequels to Spider-man and Blade II, remake of Barbarella the cross-over Batman vs. Superman, etc.

Note: As regular readers of The Numbers know, all release dates are subject to change, repeatedly.

Submitted by:

Source: Super Hero Hype

Filed under: X-Men 2, Daredevil