Comic Book Movies Follow X-Men To The Silver Screen

Spurred by the success of X-Men, which grossed $57.5 million its opening weekend and the announcement by 20th Century Fox and Marvel Studios executive Avi Arad that two sequels will soon follow, comic book-to-film projects have become a hot commodity in tinseltown.

The news is good for Marvel,the leading comic book publisher which counts X-Men among its stable of best selling titles and which only recently was on the verge of financial collapse. With an impressive library of over 3,500 characters and a fanatical following of devoted readers, Marvel's mastery of the form has given the company clout when cutting deals with Hollywood to insure that its heroes and villains make a more accurate transition from page to screen by having a say in story and character outlines as well as serving as producer or executive producer.

Aficionados are hailing the involvement of the comic book behemoth, who for years have endured mainly half-hearted and ill-concieved efforts of bringing their beloved characters to cinematic life.

Remember The Rocketeer or the horribly foul fowl Howard The Duck? Even director Joel Schumacher managed to derail the once cash cow Batman series by going the camp route with insipid action sequences and S&M inspired nippled costumes complete with - ugh - codpieces.

Still, the numbers posted by X-Men has renewed interest in the genre with studios all across Hollywood snapping up rights to a bounty of other highly recognizable characters with prospects of establishing their own lucritive franchises.

Now in the works in various stages of development, ranging from script treatment to pre-production:

Spider-Man: Perhaps the most watched project this side of Star Wars: Episode II. Directed by Evil Dead helmer Sam Raimi, Sony Pictures targets a summer 2001 release with Spidey doing battle with both the Green Goblin and Doctor Octavius. Word has it that Raimi plans to follow, at least in part, an early treatment by James Cameron that depicts Spider-Man using organtic, beneath the skin web shooters as opposed to the mechanical palm-activated devises featured in the comic.

Blade:Bloodhunt: Wesley Snipes returns as the half-vampire,half-human bloodsucker slayer in the sequel to 1998's Blade. Production is currently scheduled to roll in November with a tentative fall 2001 release.

The Hulk: Gary Sinise and George Clooney have both been mentioned as possibilites to play Dr. Bruce Banner in this big screen adaption of the mean green wreaking machine. CGI (computer generated imagery) effects will be used to create The Hulk as an 8-foot-tall monster of garganuan proportions.

Go To Page: 1 2