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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Jan 4, 2017 0:57:44 GMT -6
variety.com/2017/film/news/graham-king-akiva-goldsman-rob-liefelds-extreme-universe-1201951634/Graham King, Akiva Goldsman to Adapt Rob Liefeld’s ‘Extreme Universe’ Graham King and Fundamental Films are partnering to secure the film rights to Rob Liefeld’s “Extreme Universe.” King will partner with Akiva Goldsman to develop the property with an eye to launch a film franchise. The pair plans to set up a writer’s room for the banner, which Goldsman will oversee. King and Goldsman will produce the titles alongside Liefeld and Brooklyn Weaver. Weed Road’s president of production Greg Lessans and GK Films’ Denis O’Sullivan will executive produce. The “Extreme Universe” banner encompasses nine comic-book titles and nearly 100 characters which include Bloodstrike, Brigade, Lethal, Re-Gex, Cybrid, Bloodwulf, Battlestone, Kaboom, and Nitro-Gen among them. “Over the past nearly 25 years, since launching Image Comics, I’ve been lucky enough to see the power of these stories and characters as they’ve resonated with several generations of comic book fans,” Liefeld said in a statement. “To now be able to work with Akiva Goldsman and Graham King, who are powerhouses in their own right, to bring these compelling characters and conflicts to life on the big screen is nothing short of a dream come true!” Best known for creating the Deadpool, X-Force, and Cable comic series in the early ’90s, Liefeld’s influence extended to popular characters and storylines featuring Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, and the Avengers during his time at Marvel Comics. X-Force launched to 5 million sales and remains the second best-selling comic in history. In an interview with Variety, Liefeld said he and Goldsman had begun talking right before “Deadpool”‘s release last February as hype was beginning to rise on the film. “I would say ‘Deadpool’ had that hype window when it was coming out and during the press for that from January to ‘Deadpool’’s opening I had heard from Akiva who thought we would be a good fit together. He actually had been looking at another property and that segue into ‘Extreme Universe’ and Graham shortly came in and we were off to the races,” Liefeld said. A big selling point to Liefeld in Goldsman partnering with him on “Extreme Universe” was his recent work running the writer’s room for Paramount’s new “Transformers” universe and the attention to detail that went into expanding on an already enormous world. “The great thing about going to see Akiva is he showed me what they did on the ‘Transformers’ writing room and he showed me this perfectly bound book called “the ‘Transformers’ bible”, full of storlines and concept art for not just “Last Knight” but other projects as well, which really impressed me with how this world was conceptualized,” he said. “I had such a good time creating this universe 25 years ago and it was so original. There are great complicated characters and storylines,” Liefeld said. “We are trying to diversify the universe and we get that this is the world we will live in and believe this will be a more diverse comic book world then other comics.” Deadline Hollywood first reported the news.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Jan 4, 2017 1:02:25 GMT -6
deadline.com/2017/01/deadpool-rob-liefeld-extreme-universe-movie-deal-fundamental-films-graham-king-akiva-goldsman-1201877766/‘Deadpool’s Rob Liefeld In Extreme Universe Pic Pact With Graham King, Fundamental Films, Akiva Goldsman Rob Liefeld, whose disruptive Deadpool creation was the blockbuster movie surprise of 2016, is at the center of the first big film rights deal of 2017. Graham King and Fundamental Films have partnered to build movies from the comic book characters Liefeld created in what is known as Extreme Universe. King has partnered with Weed Road’s Akiva Goldsman, and they will produce the movies with Liefeld and Energy Entertainment’s Brooklyn Weaver. This rights deal is seven figures, I hear. The Extreme Universe covers nine comic books, encompassing more than 100 characters that include Brigade, Bloodstrike, Cybrid, Lethal, Re-Gex, Bloodwulf, Battlestone, Baboom and Nitro-Gen. This deal follows one made by Goldsman last fall, where he set the fallen angel character Avengelyne at Paramount as a feature he intends to direct. The Extreme Universe characters are written very much in the subversive, edgy style that defined Deadpool. The Fox film became the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever and now is being sequelized. Goldsman, who recently supervised writer’s rooms to expand the Transformers and Hasbro movie universes, will do the same thing here. Liefeld’s comic books often compare favorably in sales to venerable Marvel titles including Doctor Strange, so this arrangement certainly is forward thinking by King, Goldsman and Fundamental Films chairman Mark Gao. They might well sort out the storylines and movies before involving a Hollywood distributor. Essentially, they have bet big on a beachhead of fresh IP consisting of new characters for the big screen, at a time when superhero IP is in short supply and routinely fueling global blockbusters. The 8-year-old Shanghai-based Fundamental Films has become one of China’s largest film companies and already is betting big on Hollywood product, acquiring a near-28% stake in EuropaCorp to become the second-largest shareholder in Luc Besson’s company. Fundamental is an investor in Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, which it will distribute in China. This after Fundamental partnered with Besson on the Scarlett Johansson starrer Lucy, which grossed $463 million worldwide. Said Gao: “Rob Liefeld’s unique characters are in great hands with Graham and Akiva. We could not be more excited to see them bring the entire Extreme Universe to theaters and fans around the globe.” Extreme Universe brings another big project for King, whose long campaign to bring the story of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury to movie screens is about to pay off: Bryan Singer signed on to direct Bohemian Rhapsody, with Emmy-winning Mr. Robot star Rami Malek playing the iconic singer. 2oth Century Fox and New Regency are backing it. King is also in preproduction on a new Tomb Raider, starring Alicia Vikander. Said King: “Rob has an uncanny ability to create unique stories with unforgettable characters and Extreme Universe is no exception. These stories are fantastic and I couldn’t imagine better partners on this project than Mark and his team at Fundamental Films.” Aside from Deadpool, Liefeld’s comic creations include the X-Force and Cable comic series, and he has written for such Marvel Comics stalwarts as X-Men, Captain America, Spider-Man and The Avengers before he split off to hatch his own publishing imprint Extreme Studios, where he launched the characters that are the cornerstone of this deal. “Over the past nearly 25 years, since launching Image Comics, I’ve been lucky enough to see the power of these stories and characters as they’ve resonated with several generations of comic book fans,” Liefeld said. “To now be able to work with Akiva Goldsman and Graham King, who are powerhouses in their own right, to bring these compelling characters and conflicts to life on the big screen is nothing short of a dream come true.” Liefeld is repped by WME, Energy Entertainment and Morris Yorn.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Jan 4, 2017 1:04:15 GMT -6
www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/rob-liefelds-extreme-universe-headed-big-screen-graham-king-akiva-goldsman-960432'Deadpool' Creator Rob Liefeld Plans Extreme Universe Film Series With Graham King, Akiva Goldsman The comic universe created by artist Rob Liefeld is headed to the big screen. Producer Graham King, Chinese outfit Fundamental Films and writer-producer Akiva Goldsman are partnering to create a film franchise out of the comic creations. King and Fundamental have secured the film rights to Liefeld's Extreme Universe, which King and Goldsman will develop. The duo plan to set up a writers' room to brainstorm, which Goldsman, who has shepherded similar processes for the Transformers and Hasbro film universes, will oversee. Liefeld was the superstar artist who co-created X-Men characters Deadpool and Cable before co-founding Image Comics in the early 1990s. Over the course of the decade and various imprints, Leifeld put out comics that featured heroes, antiheroes and villains and superteams named Youngblood, Bloodstrike, Bloodwulf, Re-Gex and Kaboom. Youngblood is not part of the Extreme deal but many of the other characters and comics are. King and Goldsman will produce the titles alongside Liefeld and Brooklyn Weaver. Weed Road’s president of production Greg Lessans and GK Films’ Denis O’Sullivan will executive produce. “Over the past nearly 25 years, since launching Image Comics, I’ve been lucky enough to see the power of these stories and characters as they’ve resonated with several generations of comic book fans,” Liefeld said Tuesday in a statement. "To now be able to work with Akiva Goldsman and Graham King, who are powerhouses in their own right, to bring these compelling characters and conflicts to life on the big screen is nothing short of a dream come true!” Fundamental is a rising Shanghai-based media company that has a 28 percent share in Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp and will distribute in its territories EuropaCorp’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. King is coming off of producing Allies, the World War II romantic drama that starred Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard. He also is producing the upcoming Tomb Raider reboot as well as Bohemian Rhapsody, the Freddie Mercury biopic that will star Rami Malek.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Jan 4, 2017 1:05:28 GMT -6
www.cbr.com/liefeld-inks-movie-deal-extreme-studios-library/LIEFELD INKS ‘SEVEN FIGURE’ MOVIE DEAL FOR EXTREME STUDIOS LIBRARY 10 hours ago by Stephen Gerding Liefeld Inks ‘Seven Figure’ Movie Deal for Extreme Studios Library Rob Liefeld’s Extreme Universe is the subject of the first big Hollywood comic book deal of 2017, with the creator reportedly getting a seven figure payday for the rights to a number of his creator-owned characters. According to Deadline, the Extreme Universe will be developed for the big screen by Graham King and Fundamental Films, along with Weed Road’s Akiva Goldsman, Energy Entertainment’s Brooklyn Weaver and Liefeld himself. Goldman previously optioned the rights to Avengelyne, another Liefeld creation, in 2016; he’s currently overseeing the Hasbro movies for Paramount and the writers room for the “Transformers” franchise. Goldman will reportedly head a similar sit-up for Extreme, overseeing a writer’s room tasked with creating a universe of films. “Over the past nearly 25 years, since launching Image Comics, I’ve been lucky enough to see the power of these stories and characters as they’ve resonated with several generations of comic book fans,” Liefeld said in a statement. “To now be able to work with Akiva Goldsman and Graham King, who are powerhouses in their own right, to bring these compelling characters and conflicts to life on the big screen is nothing short of a dream come true!” The deal involves a number of Liefeld’s Image Comics creations, including Brigade, Bloodstrike, Cybrid, Lethal, Re-Gex, Bloodwulf, Battlestone, Baboom and Nitro-Gen. Noticeably absent form the line-up are some of Liefeld’s better known comic creations,including Youngblood, Glory and Supreme; would appear that they are not included in the Extreme deal, which involves “9 comic book titles and nearly 100 characters.” In late 2016, Liefeld shared a screenplay he had written for what he called “my vision of what a Youngblood movie would look and how it would feel like.” Though that team was not part of the announced line up, fans can read the script for themselves and perhaps get a feel for what to expect should the Extreme Universe deal yield a feature film. Liefeld’s work is in high demand following the success of Fox’s “Deadpool” in 2016, a film based on a character the writer/artist co-created for Marvel Comics in the early ’90s. He was active in the promotion of the hit R-rated superhero film, championing it from its earliest days, making a Stan Lee-esque cameo in the movie, and providing a commentary track for its Blu-ray release.
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