Filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld found great success with offbeat franchises like Men in Black and The Addams Family, and the latter arrives on Digital 4K Ultra HD for the first time on October 19 with both the theatrical version and a new extended cut (it drops on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and Remastered Blu-ray on November 9).
While we had the prolific director on the phone, we had to ask whether the superhero genre is one that interests him. As you might recall, he first became attached to DC's Metal Men in 2012, but we've heard very little since then. Well, according to Sonnenfeld himself, it's now back in active development.
"You know, it’s funny because I am developing Metal Men with Warner Bros. We’re actively working on a treatment for that," the director confirmed. "For me, it’s not so much a superhero thing as it is world-building. If you look at the work I’ve done, whether it’s The Addams Family, Men in Black, Pushing Daisies, Schmigadoon!, or A Series of Unfortunate Events, it’s all about creating a world. An unusual, slightly off-kilter quirky, different kind of world; that’s what I love doing."
"It’s not specifically, necessarily superhero, but even in Metal Men, that I am developing, it’s going to be a very specific kind of world," Sonnenfeld continued. "It’s a real-world because I always like things to be reality-based, but slightly with a tilt to that. It all started with The Addams Family which is both real but slightly pushed."
For those of you unfamiliar with the Metal Men, they were created by a scientist called Dr. William Magnus. Each of the six robots was created from a single chemical element with qualities that are reflected in their personalities, abilities, and names. They've been reinvented on multiple occasions in recent years, so there's lots that Sonnenfeld can pull from the comics for inspiration.
Warner Bros. has expanded its DC slate in a big way these past few years, with a Superman project heading to HBO Max as wee as Batgirl starring Leslie Grace. With that in mind, an obscure property like Metal Men could quite easily find a home on the streaming service rather than in theaters.
Check back here next week for our full interview with Barry about The Addams Family's re-release!