richard branson Tagged Articles at Cinematical

What do you do when your favorite comic strip character is threatened by obscurity? Become a billionaire and buy up the rights, then plan on resurrecting the comic and adapting it into a video game, TV series and, most importantly, a feature film. Sure, Richard Branson didn't become a rich man (or a knight) just to make Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future popular again, but the character rights are now an added bonus to the Virgin Group chairman's empire. Anyway, Dan Dare hasn't really been that obscured or hidden since his debut in the 1950s; the character even starred in an animated series on Nicktoons UK as recent as 2005. Of course, Americans aren't too familiar with the guy, who is often described as the British Buck Rogers, and Branson's deal should change that.

According to Variety, first up is a series from Virgin Comics written by Garth Ennis (Preacher), who actually cites Dan Dare as "our Captain America, our Superman, our Batman; he's all of them rolled into one." Funny, I thought the lame Captain Britain was all of that, but I'm certainly eager to check out this Dan Dare guy now. I don't know if I'll pick up the comics, the first issue of which comes out in November, but I'll look forward to the movie. CAA is already developing a package for whatever studio decides to latch onto it. The story concerns a post-apocalyptic world in which North America and much of Asia is destroyed and the UK is the last remaining superpower. The fairly new Virgin Comics has been growing notice lately with high profile series announced from filmmakers like Terry Gilliam, John Woo and Shekhar Kapur. Last month, Ed Burns unveiled his own title, which will also be adapted into a movie, and Nicolas Cage also has his own comic.

In a move that's almost as childish as not sharing your toys, British Airways has decided to conveniently edit out a Richard Branson cameo from their in-flight versions of Casino Royale, as well as blur an image of a Virgin Atlantic tail fin. How darling -- it's like a schoolyard fight between two giant corporations ... but at 35,000 feet. In the original version of Casino Royale, Branson can be seen walking through a metal detector at Miami Airport, then turning around. Producers allowed the Branson cameo after the man let them use one of his planes in their movie.

According to a spokesman from British Airways, it's up to them to decide what they will and will not show: "We screen all films before they're used on our aircraft so that we can control the content of what is displayed. We have full control over what is shown.'' Violence and nudity I can understand, but blatantly editing out a rival airline (and its top chairman) is a tad lame. However, this isn't the first time British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways have found themselves involved in a nasty pissing match; last year, Virgin provided U.S. and British authorities with information that lead to a price-fixing investigation involving British Airways PLC. Ha, so they fight back by editing Branson out of Casino Royale? What a way to stick it to the man! What's next -- BA will refuse to allow on board those passengers who bought music from a Virgin store?

Virgin kingpin Richard Branson is taking his outrageously successful entrepreneurship to the film industry, taking aim at the Asian market with a pair of ventures based in Bangalore, India. The first, Virgin Comics, is just what it sounds like: a comic book company, with a "focus on creating original titles and characters that blend Eastern and Western mythologies." Virgin's first efforts, which include a a series created by John Woo, are due out later this year. The second company, called Virgin Animation, will have the task of taking the characters and stories of the Comics group and turning them into animated films.

To say that the team behind the companies is an odd group is an understatement: in addition to Branson, the company's creative director is Gotham Chopra, the son of self-help guru Deepak Chopra (who, based on some reports, is also involved), and filmmaker Shekar Kapur (Bandit Queen, Elizabeth) is responsible for "providing creative content" to the early Comics offerings.

Given Branson's history of jumping into industries at just the right time, this is a promising project. It'll be interesting to watch its progress - and, hopefully to see the results, if they ever make it to the US.