With every studio in town out to bag and tag whatever comic property they can get their hands on, and with Disney’s deal with Marvel officially inducting the studio into the superhero business, no surprise to hear this morning that one of the studios own properties – alas, one of their lesser known ones, particularly to those born outside of the tail end of the decade – may be getting a dust off.
“Condorman”, the story of a cartoonist that transforms into the superhero he draws (of course you remember it!), is the latest being tinkered with over there in the Burbank redo department.
The 1981 Charles Jarrott film starred Brit stage star Michael Crawford (at the height of his ‘Betty!’ success), Oliver Reed, and James ‘Teen Wolf’ Hampton.
“The idea remains the same”, a House of Mouse insider – albeit one that works in a producing capacity for animation, so hasn’t got a direct line to anyone on this particular production and has admittedly heard this all third hand – told me over Skype this morning. “Wally. A Brit again. Robert Pattinson’s name has been floated, can you see him going for it? He seems to be into more intellectual things?. Still a pompous cartoonist turned superhero type gets to assist in the deflection of a sexy young KGB agent. Emphasis would be more on action this time around though. They want to steer as far off from Johnny English territory as possible. But there’s talk of doing lots with the Condorman brand. Guessing you’ll hear more about it soon Clint”
One of the big supporters behind the resurrection of Condorman is Stephen Wackler, an editor on ”Amazing Spider-Man”.
He, and quite a few others, believe that with Disney now doing Marvel’s movies, they should consider making the character part of the Marvel Universe. Either way, “it would all begin with a solo movie – the obligatory origins movie.”
The original “Condorman” wasn’t a big success, and didn’t gain much love among critics, but in recent years its taken on somewhat of a cult classic status, which has apparently helped stem the movement to get the reboot on the fast track.
Whatever they do, just please bring back the classic Henry Mancini score please!
