ARTICLE [excerpt]: 10 Stalled Film & TV Adaptations That We Want To See Made

by Joseph Kratzer

At any given moment in the nebulous world of big studio film production there are as many phantoms floating around as there are solid movies made. Regardless of whether these loosely connected collections of ideas, scripts, and attached names ever find a home and a green light, these potential projects permeate production offices, studio meetings, agents’ agendas as well as blogs and news sites just like this.

Of these phantoms, those that draw the most passionate feedback, whether they spark hope for the possibility of seeing a childhood memory brought to life on the big screen or threaten to rip apart the internet under the weight of fans’ collective rage, are those that are adapted from works of science fiction and fantasy. These adaptations continue to be the go to projects of many producers due to the burgeoning success of the genres in film and television (thanks to the floodgate of comic book movies and book series based TV programs released in the last ten years), the seemingly unlimited amount of source material with built in fan bases to draw upon, and of course the inherent lack of creativity and originality in studio executives.

As this is a well documented trend, one that deserves its own set of subgenres, I’d rather not dwell too heavily on what we pop culture aficionados already know like Matthew Vaughn’s adaptation of Mark Millar’s Secret Service or Warner Bros.’ rumored Bleach adaptation (and the countless others) and instead shine some light in no particular order on the ten most highly anticipated and obscure adaptations still yet to be officially confirmed yet might actually happen.

1. UMBRELLA ACADEMY

I cannot recommend The Umbrella Academy  enough as it is as darkly humorous as it is action packed and deeply affecting. My Chemical Romance’s lyricist and vocalist, Gerard Way, who graduated from The School of Visual Arts in New York City in 1999 and interned at Cartoon Network before assembling his now world famous rock band, is the creator and writer of the 2008 Eisner Award winning Dark Horse series, The Umbrella Academy, about the surreal adventures (like defeating a zombie operated Eiffel Tower or time traveling to ensure JFK’s assassination) of an estranged family of mysteriously super powered orphans reunited after the death of their mentor.

Last summer Deadline reported Dodgeball writer and director Rawson Thurber was hired by Universal to re-work a script by Mark Bomback. Although the third volume from Way was announced to be released in 2010 and has gone with no further announcements, it stands to reason the creative forces behind it are simply busy with other projects – Way with his band, and artist Gabriel Ba with Matt Fraction’s Casanova.

Now if only Claudio Sanchez of Coheed & Cambria can get a movie deal out of his Amory Wars comic series they could start some sort of club.

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