Bryan Singer Claims Consolation Prize in Comic-Book Development Sweepstakes
Three months is apparently an eternity in comic-book years: Just when we thought we'd gotten our heads around the impact of Iron Man's smashing success, it looks like that The Dark Knight's Batrocket into the box-office record books (another $24.6 million on Monday!) necessitates a whole new flurry of comics-centric development around Hollywood. And while Wired has a roundup of movers and shakers basking in collective geek glows of summer hits also including Wanted, Hellboy II and The Incredible Hulk, newly flush Warner Bros. handed off a chunk of the spotlight to slumping Bryan Singer just for the hell of it:
Warner Bros. has acquired Capeshooters, a comic book adaptation that will be produced by Bryan Singer's WB-based Bad Hat Harry banner.
Singer, who has directed films about virtuous superheroes with the first two X-Men, X2 and Superman Returns, is interested in exploring the darker side of the subject. He will only be producer on the project.
In Capeshooters, two slackers become paparazzi who specialize in shooting covert videos of superheroes find themselves on the run after they stumble onto evidence that a revered superhero is actually a villain.
The competition for titles is such that Capeshooters isn't even a written comic book yet; ex-Marvel artist Rob Liefield is still developing the property for his own Image Comics, leaving Singer to twist in Valkyrie's wind a little longer while his return to form takes shape. No rush, Liefield — just as long as it can be made for $200 million and pushed back six months to a year, Singer can hit it out of the park.
