Storied French publisher Humanoids—publisher of many classics by Moebus, Jodorowsky and Bilal—has gotten into the graphic novel to movie race with a three picture deal with Full House announced at the Cannes Film Festival currently under way. The above link is a little hard to follow with all the pacts and dealmaking but here are the three projects—all English language—in development:
LEGION, based on the graphic novel I Am Legion by fan favorite comic book creator John Cassaday (Marvel’s Star Wars) and French writer Fabien Nury, with a script by Richard Stanley (Hardware) and to be directed by Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned) is now casting.
BOUNCER is an action western movie with a script based on the cult graphic novel series by Alejandro Jodorowsky and François Boucq. The film is next on the slate of David Bowie music video helmer Floria Sigismondi (The Runaways) .
THE ZOMBIES THAT ATE THE WORLD is slated to be written and directed by RKSS (Anouk Whissell, YoannKarl Whissell, François Simard), a collective of young Canadian filmmakers whose latest film, Turbo Kid, premiered at Sundance and then went on to win the Midnight Section Audience Award at SxSW. The original comic book series by Jerry Frissen, Guy Davis, and Jorge Miguel was referred to as “hilarious” and “totally politically incorrect” by Tobe Hooper, and described as “a terrific series” by George A. Romero.
The productions are being headed up at Humanoids by CEO Fabrice Giger and his production partner, Pierre Spengler, who also producer the Ilya Salkind “Superman” trilogy. They’re budgeted at $15 million each, with the Euro-co production allowing funding to come from multiple sources.
Anytime there is more Jodorowsky in the world it’s a good thing, and Legion is another strong property. It’s hard not to think of Snowpiercer, the multi-national production based on the French-language Le Transperceneige, published by Casterman. Although the film wasn’t a box office behemoth it was well reviewed and was something of a cult hit. If there’s a company that has potential cult hits coming out their ears, it’s Humanoids.
