Tue May 6, 2008 2:46PM5 comments ›
Tue May 6, 2008 — by Van Jensen
More Will Eisner Films on the Way
Hollywood agency buys up Eisner's estate
Will Eisner's seminal comic book series The Spirit is on the way to theaters, adapted by Frank Miller. And it looks like more of the legend's creations could be following.
Wired has the news that Creative Artists Agency picked up the rights to Eisner's estate and will push for more movies based on those books, including A Contract With God.
CAA, a heavyweight talent handler that represents Steven Spielberg, Tobey Maguire, Cameron Diaz and scores of other A-listers, will be pushing for movie adaptations of Eisner titles as a result of the deal, which was announced last week. Eisner comics that could make it to the silver screen include A Contract With God and Other Tenement Stories, John Law, Lady Luck, Mr. Mystic, Uncle Sam, Blackhawk and Sheena.
Eisner died in 2005. Widely credited with helping establish the graphic novel as a respectable art form, he was honored in 1988 when Comic-Con created the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards to recognize cutting-edge comic book talent.
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Comments (5)
Vinnie Bartilucci (3:21 PM on Tue May 6, 2008)
I would love to see some of his tenement stories get made, I just don't know who they could get to tell them without any major re-writing or "improving". They could be done cheaply too - no CGI to speak of. As indie films I think they could clean up. In style and subject matter, Woody Allen came closest in Radio Days. That could be an amazing pairing.
I think there's a large number of actors in hollywood who could do justice to the roles. Adrian Brody could do well.
I fear they will become "Package" films. CAA will select a director and cast from their stable and present it to the film companies as a turnkey project.
Rick Taylor (3:26 PM on Tue May 6, 2008)
I'd really like a Blackhawk film.
A period piece.
Mike Gold (5:16 PM on Tue May 6, 2008)
Well, you won't see a Blackhawk movie because of this deal. DC controls the property, not the Eisner estate. Same thing is true of Uncle Sam, although that one would make for an amusing trademark fight.
I'm amused to see those two part of the press release. When I was at DC I got a call from Republic Pictures offering me the comic book rights to Captain Marvel (the real version), among others. I told them we already own it. I was told I was mistaken, so I put DC's legal department on 'em to straighten things out. To their credit, they called and apologized; they thought that since they did the serial (and a great serial it was), they owned it out right.
So then I told them about Spy Smasher.
Rick Taylor (5:25 PM on Tue May 6, 2008)
How did they get that into their head?
Mike Gold (5:34 PM on Tue May 6, 2008)
Spy Smasher? Same deal: A Fawcett feature licensed to Republic back in the 1940s that some paper-pusher figured Republic owned outright fifty years later.
Ironically, that's more than "Fawcett" knew at that time. Fawcett was sold, twice I think, and it wound up at CBS. From time to time, nobody at CBS actually knew they owned the rights, which DC was trying to buy outright at the time. Ultimately, DC found a person willing to accept a check.