Well I called BS yesterday in regards to the Goyer penned Supermax movie. Late yesterday, Goyer posted the following on his website:
SUPERMAX
Is it real? The answer is “YES”, it’s a real project. It’s just in the early stages of development, but amongst the tidal wave of super-hero movies hitting the screen, this more classically post-modern take could be pretty damn fun.
The basic concept actually came about through Justin Marks, a terrific young writer my wife Jessika (a producer) had previously worked with. They thought the idea of a prison-break story set in a jail designed exclusively for super-villains was a cool one. And I heartily agreed. After some discussion, we decided it would be fun to frame a super-hero and toss him into the meta-human mix.
From that point, it seemed like the next logical step was to set the film in either the Marvel or DC Universe. That way, we could populate the movie with all sorts of cool B and C-character Easter Eggs. We eventually landed at DC. Green Arrow, given his hard-hitting, moralistic tendencies, seemed like the most interesting hero to put through the institutional wringer.
I’ll keep you posted as things develop.
If they want to make a prison-break movie, why does it have to be Marvel or DC? And again, who cares if it is B or C level characters who have no connection with the audience. This could easily be done with totally new characters that have no relation with any comic company. Goyer says this is in the early stages, and often early stage projects fall off the face of the Earth. If it is made, and actually looks like a well done movie, I’ll more than likely check it out.
Anyone still interested in seeing News Boy! ?
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I have an idea called “Orphaned Billionaire,” I think that together we could make the world’s finest terrible movies…
Reminds me of a scene where a certain supervillain is imprissoned in a specifically made (glass) prison makes a break for it…
Matt: How about we name it “World’s Most Average”? Orphan Billionaire and News Boy! are sure to be big hits in the underground community. I see a whole franchise springing off these great ideas that DC fans will flock to because, well, that’s how we roll.
Okay… Then I can do my companion series, “Justa Lotta Average, featuring characters like “Clay Statue,” “Fatally Poisoned And Electrocuted Cop,” “Womanizing Flyboy,” “Deluded Lighthouse Keeper’s Son,” and “There’s No Life On Mars, Idiot.”
WOOT! We’ll be thousandaires before we know it!
“Super Max” is a terrible title. “Green Arrow: Lockdown” would fit a little better. I don’t see why this wouldn’t work if done correctly, but this won’t get made anyway. By the time it’s time to pony up the dough, some spineless executive slug will say “why are we making a super-hero movie where the the guy is only a super-hero for 10 minutes then goes to prison? Make it a comedy, throw in some homophobic prison rape jokes, and don’t forget the origin story…audiences need 45 minutes of origin story or their brains start working.”
I’m more p***ed off that they gave “Flash” to a C-level comedy director who will probably make a wacky story about a lovable but clumsy dweeb who gets hit by lightning and chemicals and becomes super-fast…someone get Ashton Kutcher on the phone! Blech.
I was inspired by the whole Unlimited Powers thing Stephen and I were discussing… If you missed it, here’s the gist.
Apparently, when Bilson and DeMeo were doing television, lo these many years ago (back in the “run Master Control for the Learning Channel while watching ‘Star Trek: TNG’ on the other monitor,” do the Friday night sign-off shift at KFHS College Radio, try-to-guess-which-random-trivia–questions-right-out-of-the-book-will-comprise-Nancy’s-next-exam days of the early 90’s), they worked up a pilot featuring a time-lost Flash, the daughter of Green Arrow, a new version of Doctor Occult, and a bio-engineered rock man drawn from my old pal, Blok. This pilot was meant to be put together as television’s version of “Watchmen,” but it never flew. They later refocused elements of this plot, took the strongest character and created “The Flash,” which ran for one season on ABC back inna day. (Elements of this distopian future/time travel story seem to have inspired the episode “Fast Forward,” at least to my mind). Much like the actual Flash series, I suspect a bit of “Bat-envy,” as well, with lots of overtones of the then-new Tim Burton ‘Batman’ movie.
http://www.newsarama.com/TwoMorrows/BackIssue/19/GSNT_UP.html
It’s an interesting look at a project that never happened, coulda been good, could been bad. But in any case, I’d wager the Goyer project is a similar “Want to do it” kinda thing. But I’ve been wrong before. I like to think it’d look something like this?