News that there's a Fathom movie in the works isn't really news... Neither is the fact that Megan Fox wants to play Aspen, the main character from Michael Turner's Fathom comic series. Here's what I DID learn during the Aspin Comics panel on Saturday.
Jordan Mechner turned the script in about two weeks ago to 20th Century Fox. He said that it's "perfect" as far as he's concerned. I'm sure the studio will have some changes.
They said that Megan Fox will be playing Aspen, but that they're still looking for a director to head up the project.
No details yet on budget, release date, etc.
The movie will be based on the first story arch of volume 1. Mechner has taken some liberties with converting it to the big-screen, but he didn't really elaborate the changes.
It was also announced that David Schwartz, writer of
Meltdown from Image Comics, will take over the writing duties for Volume 4 of
Fathom The other big news that came out of the panel was announced by Gale Anne Hurd from Valhalla Motion Pictures. She announced that they are putting Michael Turner's
Soulfire comic on the big screen!
For those not familiar with Fathom, here's some info from
Wikipedia:
Fathom begins as the cruise ship Paradise arrives in San Diego 10 years after it was reported to have disappeared. A military quarantine was established to cross examine the crew and passengers. However no one on board knew that they had been missing. Compounding the mystery was an amnesiac girl discovered by the crew while the Paradise was still at sea. The girl could only remember that her name was Aspen. Aspen was taken from the ship by a vacationing naval officer named Captain Matthews, who adopted her and raised her as his own. Aspen has a strange attraction to water, spent much of her youth swimming, eventually made the US Olympic team for the 1988 Seoul games. She even won the gold, but has her medal taken away after she gives an abnormal response to a drug test. Afterward, Aspen attended UC San Diego and received a degree in Marine Biology. She is then invited to study at a top-secret underwater science facility known as the DMD, or Deep Marine Discovery. The DMD is a joint project between the United States and Japan. The facility was built over an underwater craft of unknown origin.Both nations were determined to find its origin. However, the Americans and Japanese no longer trust each other, and rely on an intermediary named Cannon Hawke to share research data. Aspen is also introduced to a mysterious man who somehow entered the DMD. Therein he requested to be placed into a tube filled with water. As he requires no air, the DMD deduced that despite his appearance, he is not human.
Meanwhile, a US Navy test pilot named Chance Calloway is testing an experimental amphibious fighter plane for Admiral Maylander the head of Naval Intelligence. Maylander is also the man who oversaw the quarantine of the Paradise. Chance's wing-man is suddenly killed by a craft resembling the one at the DMD. Violating orders, Chance pursues the craft, first in the air, and then underwater. Disobeying orders, he fires a torpedo at the craft, only to have it dissolve into the water before the torpedo reaches its target. Without a target, the torpedo locks onto the generator at the DMD. It is destroyed, but severely damages the facility. Before she drowns, Aspen is rescued by the man in the tube, who springs to life and attempts to take her with him. He begins to dissolve into water just like the alien craft, and Aspen begins to subconsciously dissolve as well. However, Naval rescue teams arrive and the man flees. Aspen is rescued, though not before Calloway sees her in her half-dissolved form. He goes AWOL to find Aspen and figure out what he saw. He eventually finds Aspen, who cannot explain her abilities. Before she can find out more, she is abducted by government personnel and brought to the man held in the DMD known as Killian. He tells Aspen that she is a member of a race of aquatic humanoids called the Blue, who possess the ability to control water.