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Freedom Formula (2010)
Radical comics GN depicts a Robocop-style future where corporations rule and purpose-bred racers compete in tournaments with 'Vicious Cycles', exo-skeletal armour shells giving the wearer Iron Man-style powers, and depicts the story of 'Zee', the 'Neo' of this piece determined to bring down the whole corrupt system. Bryan Singer is producing the movie.
Runaways (2011)
This Marvel comics original finds teenagers fleeing to make up the sins of their parents, who they have discovered to be covert super-villains. A finished script is expected by early 2009 and Runaways is said to spearhead Marvel's post-Avengers strategy.
Ramayan 3392 A.D. (2011)
Mandalay pictures are producing this adaptation of the 2006 GN, which tells the story of legendary Indian warrior Prince Rama, a reincarnation of Vishnu. The original Indian epic has been moved to the kind of post-apocalypse setting currently so bankable in Hollywood.
The Leading Man (2011)
Effectively a combination of The Saint, Jason King and The Persuaders, Nick Walker is a globe-trotting superstar actor who - Elvis-like - does some serious spying on the side. Wanted producer Mark Platt is hoping for more comic book gold.
War Heroes (2011)
We discussed the absurd speed at which his comics are made into films with Mark Millar in our recent interview, and his latest work is no exception, with his tale of enhanced supersoldiers sitting currently with Ghost Rider producer Michael De Luca.
Sleeper (2011)
Holden Carver - known as 'The Conductor' - has absorbed the ability to transfer pain inflicted on him back to the source, making him a useful intelligence operative. Presumably, then, the torture scenes will be refreshingly short. This project - produced by Sam Raimi - is currently beguiling Tom Cruise.
Kick Ass (2009)
Another Mark Millar project that's highly anticipated and pretty much finished, though no release date has yet been set for the story of the self-styled teen superhero whose first successful tussle with bad guys gets YouTubed to world acclaim.
The Goon (2010)
Eric Powell's 1999 GN about a musclebound mob-flunkie and sidekick Franky is being produced as an animated movie by David Fincher. It's set to continue Watchmen's rather 1930s vibe, as you can probably tell from this poster.
Caliber (2010)
John Woo's retelling of the Arthur legend is based on Sam Sarkar's Radical GN, and finds Excalibur the sword replaced by Caliber the six-shooter as the medieval tale is reimagined in the old west.
The Leaves (2010)
Originator Kevin J. Walsh is adapting his own recent graphic novel for the screen. Here a New York doctor visiting India to attend a friend's funeral is told by a fortune-teller that he is the bringer of the apocalypse. Summit entertainment are producing the movie.
Last Blood (2010)
This graphic novel about a post-apocalyptic world where vampires must protect a core of humanity from zombies in order to have a reliable food supply, is available online. A History of Violence producers Chris Bender and J.C. Spink - who have 49 other titles in development including Zombies Of Mass Destruction - is working with Family Guy supremo David A. Goodman on the adaptation.
Buck Rogers (2011)
John Flint Dille's swashbuckling, future-dwelling astronaut is set to fly again with a new production from Avi Lerner at NuImage/Millennium. The project still needs a studio and a script.
Hard Boiled (2011)
Frank Miller is set to helm the movie version of his own graphically violent 1990 graphic novel, where a tax collector called Carl Seitz discovers himself to be a Terminator-style cybernetic assassin. Spirit producer Deborah Del Prete is also on board.
ZMDs: Zombies of Mass Destruction (2011)
Underworld creator Kevin Grevioux is set to launch a new supernatural franchise with the intriguing story of military-bred zombies who are dropped into enemy territory at night but have been designed to dissolve at daybreak, but - wouldn't you know it -one of the crusty critters fails to oblige.
Thulsa Doom (2010)
Gladiator/Push actor Djimon Hounsou is set to spin off from the mainstream world of Conan as the Cimmerian's arch-enemy, a sorcerer of great power (played in the 1981 Schwarzeneggar movie by James Earl Jones).
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
The film that definitively proves graphic novels are the new spec script, as writer Lionel Wigram's source comic remains unpublished and was produced in lieu of a speculative script. Robert Downey Jr. has an unlikely Doctor Watson in Jude Law, and this is, it seems, the begin of a career departure for hard-knuckled Guy Ritchie.
Red (2010)
Warren Ellis's 2003 thriller - about a retired CIA assassin that a new administration feel is a threat - is the first DC property to leave the fold for other producers, and will be produced by Transformers/2's Lorenzo di Bonaventura, amongst others.
Ocean (2010)
Described as "an alien thriller with a fresh take on the origin of man.", Ocean is another Warren Ellis original heading screenward, this time under Gianni Nunnari and Nick Wechsler (already involved in comic-book films from Frank Miller's Ronin and 300). Angel-like bodies are discovered in coffins in the frozen oceans of Europa, and a UN weapons inspector must fight off a powerful company looking to exploit the discovery.
Hiding In Time (2010)
Christopher Long's now hard to find GN - about a witness relocation program that uses time-travel to hide witnesses - is being brought to life by Max Payne adaptor Beau Thorne and Terminator Salvation producer Dan Lin, and this tale of assassins who discover the chronological locations of their targets and go in pursuit of them certainly seems close to the Terminator world.
Elfquest (2011)
Richard Pini's 1978 cult comic - published at various times by both Marvel and DC - is finally set for the big screen after a number of false starts. DC hold sway as the film is being produced by Warners with Rawson Marshall Thurber at the helm.
Doctor Strange (2012)
Already the subject of two low-budget adaptations (in 1978 and 2007), there have been many contenders to helm and star in the tale of the New York superhero/mystic; Christian Bale - perhaps unimaginatively - is the latest to be offered the cape, while Guillermo del Toro has flirted endlessly with the project, which remains without a confirmed director.
Illegal Aliens (2010)
Further reinforcing the vanishing division between comics and films, Vanguard comics are proposing simultaneous film/comic launches, of which this tale of a reporter in search of the 'chupacabra monster' is one. Jeremiah exec producer Scott Mitchell Rosenberg is on board.
Resurrection (2010)
Marc Guggenheim's new GN depicts a world recovering from alien invasion (by a race called 'the bugs'). As the aliens depart, society must reform and retrench, so it's basically Mad Max meets Survivors. Universal have picked the project up and it may be the first 'post-post apocalypse' movie to be released.
Ghost In The Shell (2010)
Earlier this year, Spielberg was angling to make the first non-CGI version of the post-cyberpunk anime series that features Motoko Kusanagi, a female cyborg fighting technological crimes in a future Japan (what are the odds the locale will change?). The project is being developed by Dreamworks and Marvel supremo Ari Arad.
North Wind (2011)
Boom! Studios tale of antarctic apocalypse is being brought to the screen by Eureka producer Andrew Cosby. North Wind centres on those who have survived a new ice-age and are determined to rid themselves of the tyrant who has risen from the chaos to rule them.
Wonder Woman (2011)
Possibly the most controversial piece of casting of the decade, there are a million forums alive with speculation as to who will play DC comics' Amazonian warrior, though Jessica Biel is looking hot right now. Errr. Anyway Joss Whedon's wasted two years on the project are further indication that no-one really knows what to do with such a cheerful character post-Dark Knight.
Harbinger (2010)
Brett Ratner is heading up this very X-Men-like project, which deals with a group of outcast teenagers - the difference is that their powers must be activated by the 'Omega Harbinger'. After the poor critical reception of X3, this adaptation of Jim Shooter's comic could be Ratner's chance to get the concept nailed.
The Megas (2010)
T3 director Jonathan Mostow created this graphic novel for Virgin comics, presumably as a spec-GN for a movie. Megas postulates an alternate America where the founding fathers created an aristocracy instead of a democracy, and centres on a detective investigating the seedy underbelly of the American royal family. Mostow himself is heading up...
Namor: The Submariner (aka Submariner, 2010)
Originally with Chris Columbus, this Marvel Studios tale of the Atlantean wing-heeled hero has had Angel's David Boreanaz attached for some time. Central character Prince Namor will be caught up in an ecological war between the land-dwellers and the sea-denizens whose habitat they have polluted. Jonathan Mostow is still said to be attached to the project.
Starkweather (2010)
Like a cross between Sabrina The Teenage Witch and Doctor Strange, this entry from Archaia Studios Press tells of a young boy descended from sorcerers but ignorant of the fact until a coven seek him out in his twenties. Another one that'll be hard to Google, thanks to the 1950s murderer that inspired Badlands. Chris Bender and J.C. Spink (see Final Blood above) are attached.
The Avengers (2011)
Slated for a prime summer slot on July 15th 2011, this is set to be one of the most highly-anticipated movies of the next few years, directed by Jon Favreau with Robert Downey Jr. firmly signed to it as Tony Stark/Iron Man and new 'Rhodey' Don Cheadle attached too. Marvel Studios are financing and Paramount distrubuting, as usual. Rumours are obviously rife regarding casting.
Iron Man 2 (2010)
7th May 2010 and the wait will be over for Downey Jr. to rocket upwards for a sequel to the smash hit 2008 Marvel Studios' debut. Terence Howard's replacement by Don Cheadle (see The Avengers above) has caused a stir, but we're all pleased that Downey Jr. has signed on the dotted line up to Iron Man 3.
Nick Fury (2010)
Jack Kirby's streetwise S.H.I.E.L.D supremo was a huge hit in a guest spot with Samuel L. Jackson at the end of the credits for Iron Man, and many are hoping that Jackson will return and make the film that Shaft should have been.
Red Sonja (2009)
The Robert Rodriguez-produced adaptation of the adventures of the Marvel comics heroine (a Conan spin-off derived very loosely from a Robert E. Howard short story) generated much interest at comicon when Rodriguez and Sonja star Rose McGowan showed off some sexy new posters, but there's some speculation the film may go straight to disc.
Barbarella (2009)
The personal split between McGowan and Rodriguez doesn't seem to have stopped Sonja, but Rodriguez's adaptation of the 1960s French space-kitten comic by Jean-Claude Forest has had other problems over the last two years, and it's looking bloody unlikely this side of 2010 whoever does it.
Whiteout (2009)
Long completed, this Kate Beckinsale horror adaptation (of the 1998 graphic novel by Greg Rucka) keeps getting bumped, and is currently slated for a release in September of 2009. Whiteout concerns a US marshall (Beckinsale) investigating Antarctica's first murder.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
The movie they perhaps should have made to begin with, given how he hogged the three X-Men movies, this will show us the genesis of self-healing mutant Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) in the early 20th century as he makes an enemy of Sabretooth and gets kitted up with the lethal blades. Zack Snyder conceded the film to Rendition director Gavin Hood.
X-Men Origins: Magneto (2009)
Further details on the plot of the other X-prequel came to light recently, and producer Lauren Shuler Donner spoke further on the matter , describing the film as centred around Erik Lensher and Charles Xavier "in their early, early years." Despite a 2009 release date the latest project note states "A script exists, but there is no green light for the project at the moment.", and this refutes earlier intelligence on the matter.