Straczynski: Silver Surfer spin-off is up in the air
Remember talk last year of a Silver Surfer spin-off movie, before the Fantastic Four sequel had even opened? Well, it may be just that — talk.
Screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski tells AMC’s SciFi Scanner the future doesn’t look promising for the Herald of Galactus.
“Whether or not it ever gets made I don’t know because they were kind of disappointed in how Fantastic Four 2 did,” Straczynski says. “And given how this will be a subset of FF2 in terms of the marketing strategy, I think there is hesitation there about putting it forward. The script is pretty good, I like it, but whether or not it goes into production, I have no idea.”
He reveals that the Silver Surfer movie would’ve picked up “literally the next frame” after the FF sequel ends, and that audiences actually would have seen the Devourer of Worlds.
“In the script I come up with some ways to visualize him that are true to the original, but take it one step further using the current CGI technology that we have,” Straczynski says. “So we would have seen him as a character on numerous occasions in the second movie, not inconsistent with the first distant shot of him in that that’s just a way of concealing who and what he really is. Believe me, he would be not at all silly looking.”
The Ticker
• Get Smart director Pete Segal says movement has slowed on Billy Batson and the Legend of Shazam because of a backlog created by the writers’ strike: “We started to do our re-write process but he [screenwriter John August] had to service some of these other prior commitments. So now we’re kind of waiting in line to get him back …” [FirstShowing]
• Here’s your semiannual feature about the relationship between the comics industry and Hollywood. Frank Miller, Mark Millar, Mike Mignola, Zack Snyder and Kevin Smith have starring roles. [Time]
• TV’s Caped Crusader, actor Adam West, describes the recent Batman movies as “dark, gothic, sinister, full of explosions.” [ComicBookMovie]
June 20th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Haha…That’s funny. Yes, Mr. West…in comparison to the Batman movie you were in (”Sometimes, you just can’t get rid of a bomb.”)…yeah today’s Batman movies ARE very dark, sinister and full of explosions. Don’t get me wrong, as a kid, I loved that playful Batman movie, it still brings back fond memories of yesteryear. But, times have changed and Batman, in his original darkness and grim background, as he was designed to personify is the interpretation that the audience has been craving all these years.
Moving right along, too bad about the Silver Surfer movie. I was looking forward to that, but it doesn’t surprise me that it’s in limbo at the moment. It’ll never see the big screen
As far as the news about a SHAZAM movie, not surprising AT ALL. I doubt very seriously that DC will ever do a superhero movie other than Batman and Superman. Hell…they can’t even get the 3rd member of the Trinity to the big screen, what makes them think they can get SHAZAM on it first?
June 20th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Hrm… I hope Fox gets around to greenlighting SILVER SURFER. Given how much they hate paying for sci-fi (do they consider FF movies to be family?), I doubt they will.
For Marvel Studios to get SILVER SURFER and FF back, does Fox have a time limit on producing or do they have to directly give them back?
June 20th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
“they were kind of disappointed”
Seems like a bit of an understatement I’d guess.
June 20th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
“they were kind of disappointed”
Funny, I think all of us who paid to see the movie felt much the same.
June 21st, 2008 at 8:22 am
I enjoyed the FF movies for what they were, but much as the way that I enjoyed Ang Lee’s Hulk for what it was. That said, as with Hulk, I’d be more than happy to see the rights revert back to Marvel Studios so that, as with The Incredible Hulk, they could do a Fantastic Four movie that’s just a bit more faithful to the original. I thought Fox got it right with the relationships between the title characters, but the casting needs to be tweaked (Jessica Alba was marginally more believable as a scientist than Denise Richards was) and Doom needs to be realized more faithfully than the suave businessman that Julian McMahon played.
June 21st, 2008 at 1:20 pm
I swear if DC make more then a batman and superman movie im gonna be piss they should learn from the mistake marvel is doing
June 22nd, 2008 at 6:56 pm
can you believe this? They said they were making a silver surfer film then they put him in a FF film??? Now not at all? Here is the problem, the fantastic four suck! There is not one thing good about them and the silver surfer was the only thing that made me watch the second film, the first and dr doom in the second was equal to a power ranger movie. Make the silver surfers own movie.