Deadline is reporting that Waypoint Entertainment have bought up the film rights to two Mark Millar comic book properties: “Supercrooks” and “American Jesus”. Millar is no stranger to Hollywood adaptations as the creator of “Kickass”, “Wanted” and “The Secret Service”. Much of his Marvel work has also been mined for the big screen including “Civil War”, “Ultimate Fantastic Four” and the upcoming third Wolverine film reportedly based on his much lauded “Old Man Logan” series.
Both of the announced productions are pretty far from the standard super hero fare, with “Supercrooks” being about a group of old time villians getting the band back together for a heist, and “American Jesus” (drawn by Peter Gross) being about the second coming of Christ – in modern day United States.
Millar seemed excited about the announcement, and had this to say about his meetings with Waypoint:
“I only come to LA one week a year and do all my meetings in the pub during those seven days every September. On my most recent trip I met these guys and was wowed by their plans and the scale they’re working on. Leinil and I couldn’t be more delighted to have Supercrooks up and running with such talented people. Peter Gross and I have held American Jesus back for a decade until the right team came along. This really is that team! The level of talent we’re talking about behind the camera has us all ridiculously excited. Fans of the books are in for an absolute treat.”
Hopefully this is a sign that Hollywood have learnt the right lessons from the success of “Deadpool” and “Guardians of the Galaxy”: that audiences will respond well to something a bit different, a bit ‘outside the box’. And hopefully after Wade Wilson’s triumphant turn at the box office, neither of these films will be getting watered down for a PG rating – something that definitely wouldn’t bolster Millar’s edgy source material.