Director Reginald Hudlin has signed on to direct and rework the film based on Valiant Comics’ ‘Shadowman’. Hudlin will retool the script with Adam Simon, the showrunner of ‘Salem’. The original script was written by J. Michael Straczynski (‘Thor’, ‘Thor: The Dark World’, ‘World War Z’; creator of the Netflix series ‘Sense8’). Straczynski remains attached as executive producer. Hudlin, has experience with
Hudlin, has experience with superheroes, having penned an acclaimed four-year run on ‘Black Panther’, which was adapted to a limited-motion animated miniseries. The series which was originally supposed to air on BET but instead went to video and streaming. A couple of years ago, Hudlin was attached to produce a digital series based on ‘Static’/’Static Shock’ with Jaden Smith attached to star. He is now working with DC Entertainment to revive their Milestone properties, which presumably includes ‘Static’.
Hudlin first gained fame for the 1990 surprise hit ‘House Party’ starring rap duo Kid-N-Play. He then went on to a bigger budget with the Eddie Murphy all-star movie ‘Boomerang’. He also directed ‘The Great White Hype’ and ‘The Ladies Man’ before shifting mostly to television work, directing episodes of dozens of shows. He recently returned to the world of film with his biopic ‘Marshall’ based on the life of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
‘Shadowman’ is a supernatural concept based around an African-American musician in New Orleans who becomes infected by a spirit that allows him otherworldly abilities. As the latest incarnation of the titular Shadowman, a mystical defender of Earth against demonic invasion, he has to protect against threats from Master Darque and other denizens of the netherworld known as the Deadside.
The character debuted in 1992’s Shadowman No. 1, and currently appears in the company’s current Rapture comic book series, which launched last month.
Valiant is also developing a film based on ‘Archer & Armstrong’. The company plans to develop the projects in-house before shopping them around to studios.
Sony has a deal in place to develop five movies based on Valiant’s ‘Harbinger‘ and ‘Bloodshot’. (It’s entirely possible that once Valiant is finished developing ‘Shadowman’ and ‘Archer & Armstrong’, they could end up at Sony.) Valiant also has ‘Quantum & Woody’ being developed for television with Joe and Anthony Russo attached as executive producers.
Are you excited that the Valiant universe is possibly coming to the big screen? Is there room for another movie series based on comic books?
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
