Columbia Pictures has acquired the rights to the ’30s pulp hero The Shadow for an adaptation to be produced Spider-Man director Sam Raimi and his partner Josh Donen.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Michael Uslan also will produce the film through his company, Comic Book Movies. Siavash Farahani will write the screenplay.
The Shadow debuted in 1931 as the name of the announcer for magazine publisher Street & Smith’s radio show, Detective Story Hour. When fans began asking for the non-existant Shadow Magazine, the publisher turned to writer and magician Walter B. Gibson to bring the character to life. Using the pen name Maxwell Grant, Gibson reportedly wrote 282 out of 325 Shadow books published over the next two decades.
The character has skulked through radio, comics, television and, repeatedly, film — from 1937′s The Shadow Strikes to 1994′s big-budget The Shadow, starring Alec Baldwin.
December 11th, 2006 at 10:30 am
I really liked the most recent version with Alec Baldwin. Is it going to be a continuation of that one? Or something completely new?
December 11th, 2006 at 10:33 am
Great! But where, oh where is the love for Doc Savage.
C’mon, Hollywood. One dreadful George Pal movie – - 30 years ago – - is all we’ve gotten of the Man of Bronze.
December 11th, 2006 at 10:33 am
Holy frikkin’ mudder of God!! That’s the best news I have *EVER* heard!!! Shoot! I, too, have to share Scott’s thoughts, as to whether this will be a continuation of the Russell Mulcahy film with Alec Baldwin (who I thought was a super Shadow), or will it be altogether new? Hmm.. Can we perhaps get a proper Doc Savage movie as well?
WOOF! WOOF!!
December 11th, 2006 at 10:34 am
Oh yeah, love that movie. But I wouldn’t mind seeing Raimi tackle the character, and with today’s fx, the movie’ll definetely be a visual treat…
December 11th, 2006 at 11:34 am
The parts of the 1994 version with the Shadow were well done, but the rest of the film was way too light. I am hoping this new version is a lot darker in tone then the other version.
December 11th, 2006 at 12:22 pm
Unless I’m mistaken, Raimi actually did some second unit stuff on the ’94 Shadow movie – so you can already see *some* of his take on it.
December 11th, 2006 at 12:57 pm
Good news.
December 11th, 2006 at 1:03 pm
“I really liked the most recent version with Alec Baldwin.”
Ditto.
“Is it going to be a continuation of that one? Or something completely new? ”
Good questions.
December 11th, 2006 at 1:05 pm
If memory serves, “Darkman” came about because Raimi couldn’t get the rights to the Shadow.
I doubt this is a continuation of the 1994 movie. It was a box-office disappointment, so harkening back to it makes little sense.
That movie also confirmed for me that Penelope Ann Miller should just stop being in movies.
December 11th, 2006 at 3:07 pm
Brothers! somebody liked the Shadow movie besides me? im glad
December 11th, 2006 at 6:58 pm
I actually heard somewhere that this is going to be a movie that teams up The Shadow with other Street and Smith pulp characters like Doc Savage and The Avenger. Sources are conflicting, though.
December 12th, 2006 at 1:23 am
does that mean spiderman 4 isn’t going to be likely for awhile?
December 12th, 2006 at 3:54 am
That’s what I heard. I like Darkman, when he got Spidey I knew he could pull it off.
December 15th, 2006 at 1:53 am
The Shadow is the absolute coolest. I really dug that Alec Baldwin movie and thought he did really well. GREAT news hearing The Shadow is back. Hopefully Doc will have a cameo or his own film. The Governator was going to play him until he got all elected and screwed things up, darn it.
December 18th, 2006 at 5:59 am
To differ from everyone else a little, I thought the Baldwin Shadow was a horrendous misjudgement of the character, both in Mulcahy’s lazy direction and Baldwin’s dull performance. Whereas other ‘camp’ treatments of 30s heroes have been at least fun (I sorta like Doc Savage and even the Phantom), the Shadow was a mess for me. The Raimi Darkman however, was a delight – and clearly an amalgam of the Avenger and the Shadow. Thank God the studios are showing sense with this one.
January 12th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Imagine Basil Rathbone with Vincent Price’s mocking tones and you will get why the Shadow as played by Alec Baldwin was such a missed opportunity. Imagine creepy horror combined with the Sopranos and The Godfather and you will see why Russel Mulcahy’s Shadow was so off-key, tonally. If you’re gonna make it work, it’s gotta be scary, bloody and Gritty (in that Frank Miller Sin City way) and brilliantly written. But you have to get the lead actor right. Adrian Brody from Peter Jackson’s King Kong anybody? And if Raimi’s not going to direct it then somebody of the calibre of Tarantino.