dark horse Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Don't you just love when you hear about Hollywood options before ComicCon, so that you can pick them up at the con as a tasty treat for the ride home? Somehow I've missed catching Fear Agent, but I can sense a new addiction coming on, and just in time for the movie adaptation.

THR's Risky Biz Blog reports that Universal is in the early stages of developing Rick Remender's series Fear Agent. If you're like me, and never got to pick it up, the official site has a 23-page preview of Volume 1 up. The star of the series is one Heath Houston, a Texan who is one of the last "fear agents," a fancier way of saying "alien hunter." He's one of the last guys out there fighting the good fight to save planet Earth, but unfortunately he chooses to do it under the influence of whiskey. Yay for bitter, alcholic heroes! He reads like a cross between Bruce Campbell, Wolverine, and John McClane and could be a nice, beefy part for any actor worth his machismo. (I believe there were a few of those passed over for The Green Lantern -- maybe they could give this space cop a try?)

It's currently open to writers, but the studio may buy up a spec owned by producer Jonathan Shestack, and bring him on to help oversee the project. So far, of all the Universal / Dark Horse pair-ups, this one looks the most exciting, and a snarky antidote to Star Trek.

Admit it -- when you read about the latest comic book being optioned, you're either thinking "Crap, I haven't read that one" or "When is that one about the undead Mexican wrestler going to get its day onscreen?" If it was ever the latter, you're in luck today. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Dark Horse graphic novel El Zombo Fantasma has been optioned by Death Ray Films (also the brains behind War Monkeys) and Maya Entertainment. Kevin Munroe, co-creator of the book, will adapt and direct the film.

The story centers on El Zombo, a Mexican wrestler and all around bad boy. Murdered one fateful night, El Zombo is given a chance at redemption. If he can protect the life of Belisa Montoya, a troubled Los Angeles teenager, he won't go to hell. Thinking to get out of hell and catch up with his murderer, El Zombo agrees. Of course, Belisa isn't what she seems to be, and their fates are intertwined. You don't just get sent back from purgatory to protect random teenagers, you know.

There's a 16-page preview of it on Dark Horse's site -- it's a lot of fun, and comparisons to Hellboy are apt. Death Ray and Maya are hoping to launch a similar film franchise with El Zombo. It has some familiar Internet talent behind it too -- two of the producers are none other than Kellvin Chavez of Latino Review and Robert Sanchez of IESB.net. Slowly and surely, Internet fandom is conquering Hollywood.

Even the most die-hard Bruce Campbell fans often approach the actor's latest films with trepidation. You never know whether you're going to end up watching something sublime and smart like Bubba Ho-Tep, or something that is ... not, like Alien Apocalypse. My Name is Bruce may be selling out quickly on its tour where actor/director Campbell is traveling with the film to promote it, but that doesn't mean anything ... some people would watch him read the phone book. It was a relief to discover that My Name is Bruce is a bundle of good cheesy fun. The gags tend to work, the storyline is eye-rollingly ridiculous but rarely dull, and Campbell is at his lovably jerky best.

Campbell plays Bruce Campbell -- a less successful and more obnoxious version of himself. This Bruce lives in a trailer that has seen better days, yet acts like a numero-uno prima donna on the set of his latest Grade-Z movie, Cave Alien 2. He drunk-dials his ex-wife, he shares bottles of cheap booze with his dog, he hangs out in topless-dancing bars. Meanwhile, a small town is being tormented by an ancient Chinese ghost, and the teenager responsible for unleashing the spirit is the world's biggest Bruce Campbell fan. He convinces the townspeople that they should kidnap Bruce and bring him to their town to play the hero.

If you read my recent Cinematical Seven about my favorite Bruce Campbell moments, you know already how much I enjoy watching the actor/filmmaker onscreen. I was one of the people who refreshed her browser window continually in order to be able to score tickets to the Austin screening of My Name is Bruce, Campbell's latest film, which he directed and starred in. The first screening sold out in Austin in record time. (They added two more screenings as a result, which also sold out quickly.)

So you can well imagine my reaction when given the opportunity to interview Campbell while he was in Austin for the screening. I had fleeting nightmare visions of the interview sounding like Bridget Jones interviewing Colin Firth in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, or like one of those interviews Chris Farley used to do on Saturday Night Live ("You know that scene in Army of Darkness where you were fighting yourself? That was awesome."). Fortunately none of that happened, and the professional interviewer won out over the fangirl. After I saw My Name is Bruce and enjoyed a lively audience Q&A -- Alamo Drafthouse has posted video highlights on YouTube -- I met Campbell in a small office at the back of Alamo Ritz. We chatted about My Name is Bruce and the road tour Campbell's doing for the movie, other projects he's working on, and of course the whole Evil Dead 4 thing. Check it out after the jump.

It's been a while since we heard anything about Johnny Depp's second foray into the world of comic book adaptation, otherwise known as Rex Mundi. Back in 2006, Depp purchased the rights to Arvid Nelson's Dark Horse series under his Infinitum Nihil banner, with the intention to star as Dr. Julien Sauniere.

To refresh your memory, Rex Mundi is set in an alternate history where Martin Luther was assassinated, the Reformation never took place, and the Catholic Church still reigns supreme. The comics take place in the 1930's, in a world where the Inquisition still runs rampant, Europe is ruled by monarchs, but magic manages to exist. Into this walks Dr. Sauniere, who finds himself investigating the disappearance of a medieval scroll, and a trail of horrific ritual murders. You can find out more on its official site, if you're interested. Depp was drawn to the project not because he's a comic reader, but because he's keenly interested in the Templar Knights, and "loves that kind of research" according to Barry Levine, who's co-producing.

According to MTV, Rex now has a script, penned by Jim Uhls, and is looking for a director. Depp has been right in the thick of all the decision making, says his co-producer Barry Levine. "The second draft is now coming in from Jim, and Warner Bros. is pretty excited about it. They came up with a couple of names for directors, so now we just need Johnny to look at the list. It all begins and ends with Johnny. He's got to be happy with the script, and he gave his notes, so we'll see what happens next."

According to TheGoon.com, Eric Powell's endlessly inventive series has just been optioned by David Fincher, who plans to turn it into a CGI movie. (Is this the first movie to be announced via its character's official domain instead of the trades? I'm sure it isn't, but I find it awesome and worth mentioning nonetheless.)

The Goon is a everything-but-the-kitchen-sink (and probably that too) comic that draws comparisons to (and appearances by) Hellboy. I'm ashamed to say I haven't read it, though I don't seem to be alone in that. The series follows the deformed brawler of the title, who claims to be the enforcer for a mobster named Labrazio. The Goon and his sidekick, Franky, are frequently trading punches with all manner of otherworldly creatures, from zombie armies to aliens -- and from what I'm looking at on Dark Horse, it never gets boring. And it's hilarious. Check out the preview of issue #8, and tell me I'm wrong. (There's lots of Goon previews up on Dark Horse's page, spend the holiday weekend checking them out! I'm going to. Fireworks are overrated.)

While CGI would be the best way to capture the top-notch art, I can't help but wish this was in live action. I would love nothing more than to see a real live Goon beat down some lame vampires, or get omens interpreted by a psychic seal. But already, this is gearing up to be one of the best comic adaptations this side of The Dark Knight -- a top notch director in Fincher, and hilarious source material.

[via CHUD]

SuperheroHype has our first look at Dark Horse's upcoming classic sci-fi spoof Monarch of the Moon - and I must say, it looks like nothing short of amazing. The idea of the movie, if you haven't heard, is to recreate the look and feel of a 1950s serial sci-fi story, and so far it looks to be right on target. The script follows the adventures of the World War II action hero Yellow Jacket, an ex-fighter pilot who defends truth, justice and the American Way against evil Japanese robots and Nazi scientists bent on creating a device called the Doomsday Ray. Somehow, in the course of this wackiness, Y.J. goes into space to fight the Monarch of the Moon, as well. The three pictures which can be viewed at the above link provide an exciting early look at the project. They don't show anything wildly outrageous in terms of special effects yet, but they do have a great looking shot of a hero in flight, Rocketeer-style, which just screams 1950s.

The more I learn about this crazy project, the more excited I become. The concept is a winner, the plot is delicious, and now the early images look right on target. I have no idea if this film will be a success, but I can tell you I surely expect to enjoy it. Dark Horse may have a daunting task ahead of them, however, in giving the project mass appeal.

Sci Fi Wire and IESB are both reporting variations of the following story, as told by Dark Horse representative film historian Travis Liberty. The story is offered as an explanation put forth for the Dark Horse project Monarch of the Moon.

The US Department of War commissioned a sci-fi serial in the model of Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon to be created as a means of promoting pro-American and anti-German/Japanese sentiment. The film may not have been propaganda per-se, but it definately had political overtones (think Day After Tomorrow). The series was reasonably advanced for its time, as a large budget allowed for high quality production. It focused around the adventures of the very American hero "Yellow Jacket" who went about fighting various evil menaces of Japanese and German persuasion. However, the death of a significant number of extras marred the production of the film, and it was eventually discovered that German agents had snuck their way onto the staff as replacements, hijacking some of the lucrative budget to fund weapons research. When this was learned, the DoD canned the project, arrested the director, and erased all public record of the film. Until now, when Mr. Liberty discovered it in the archives of Mosfilm, the official Russian film studio.

As far as I can tell, both of the sites are reporting this story as if it has a credible basis in fact- although with IESB, it may just be that my sarcasm detector is on too low of a setting. I'm pretty certain that this movie was orignally annouced as a spoof film some time back, as it is reported to star actors who are still quite young, alive and well. It seems pretty obvious to me that the above tale is just a fun little attempt by the Dark Horse people to create a bit of stylized and unorthodox hype for the film- but it may have accidentally duped a few people into thinking they are actually trying to pass the film's "history" off as fact.