Should they make another Punisher movie?

[The Overlord]

I saw Punisher Warzone last night and it was terrible. There have 3 Punisher movies at this point and none of them have been good. Should they ever try to make a forth one and if so how do they break this cycle?

 

[Wally West]

I can't see anyone taking a chance at another reboot for a least a decade. Unless they could tap someone high profile and talented like a Chris Nolan to Direct. But I don't see that happening, the Punisher has a terrible track record at the box office.

Not sure which studio owns the rights, but the only way I see the Punisher making a return to the big screen is if he shows up as a supporting character in another Marvel film.

 

[ChickenScratch]

I think there needs to be another one, and done right. It needs a director like Tony Scott, Michael Mann, John McTiernan. You know, guys who know how to do an action/revenge flick. There are many movies out there that I watch and in my head I tell myself it's The Punisher, like Boondock Saints, Death Wish, etc. Fact is, if we see him again it'll maybe be a side character in a larger Marvel production though I think he might get a straight to DVD if he's lucky. Though I think the best place for him is on HBO or Showtime in a weekly series.

 

[DarKush]

I would love to see them take another crack at Punisher, preferably with Ray Stevenson. He deserved to be in a better film. But I don't see it happening for a long time.

Perhaps they could do a Punisher TV show instead in a few years. I think the concept would work pretty well on the small screen, but not on network TV.

 

[Punisher Rising]

With The Punisher as my all-time favorite comic book character and anti-hero, I obviously want to see another film. I enjoyed PWZ and liked Ray Stevenson's portrayal of the character, but Thomas Jane to me is still the best overall and I'd be thrilled to see him back (although I hold no objections to Stevenson returning, either. None at all). I think the best bet is to make a proper sequel to the 2004 movie (which I liked and despite the alterations to the character's origin, IMO the spirit and tone of the character was still there), get Ennis to write the new films from now on and I wouldn't mind Jonathan Hensleigh back to direct, but other directors I think can do a Punisher film justice would be Michael Mann, Christopher Nolan, Walter Hill and Sylvester Stallone (the new Rambo showed he can do a brutal and gritty action film that doesn't hold back anything). Keep the tone and style in-line with the Max series and especially the darkest ones like Up Is Down And Black Is White and The Slavers, and keep the atmosphere as urban, grimy and seedy as possible, with minimal to no humor at all.

I'd also love to see an animated series like the old Spawn cartoon, uncensored and explicit with it's content. Get Ennis to write, Bradstreet to provide the character illustrations and Jane to voice Frank. I think this would probably be the best bet for The Punisher to get some kind of success on another medium outside of the comics, but an animated movie like this (R-rated of course) would be another good bet.

 

[ChickenScratch]

The more I think about it the more I think a TV series on HBO or some other premium cable channel would work. Every week does not have to be a bloodbath but still have the tone and the seedy underbelly of NY Frank moves through. Punisher 2004 (which is my favorite) focused too much on Frank's investigative and screwing with his prey (directly lifted from Pendlton's Mach Bolan/Executioner) and the last one (which sucked) concentrated too much on the brutality, missing out on how smart Frank really is.

A show in the spirit of The Wire, The Shield, The Sopranos would do well. 12 episodes a season, one mob boss to take down by the end and the sprinkled throughout are big and small action scenes as well as investigating, screwing with the enemy. You'll get to have Chip, reintroduce the characters from Welcome Back Frank. It would be great.

I gotta say it again. As much as I love Punisher, I love The Executioner more.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Dg2BsvifoXY/STDGwLfNhFI/AAAAAAAAAME/S12SZjIrz9A/s320/MACK_BOLAN_TPBcov.jpg

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n60/n302467.jpg

 

[Chris Wallace]

I seriously doubt it. THis character has failed to launch 3, count 3 times. You'd have to be out of your mind to even consider giving it another shot. Maybe-and this is a very narrow maybe-if they give it a few years & try a fresh approach, it might work. But I really don't think even then.

 

[Changeling]

I REALLY hope they don't make another. Punisher is kind of a joke now.

 

[cerealkiller182]

I think its time for a break for break's sake.

I kinda hope Marvel will do a Marvel Knights series in the same vain as Avengers, where you have separate franchises and a crossover flick. But even then I think I'd like to see Daredevil's identity being outed and being sent to jail and have the Punisher get caught and protect him inside. They could probably even get Tom Jane or Ray Stephenson to return.

 

[Chris Wallace]

Very unlikely. What you're proposing would pretty much be Marvel's Watchmen. And I just don't see that happening.

 

[Timstuff]

I've never really followed The Punisher's comics, but he seems like a character that no-one can seem to do right. Personally, I thought that the Tom Jane one was decent enough, if not a bit derivative, but I guess fans didn't take too kindly to it. I don't want to say "three strikes and you're out," but it's definitely not looking good for the character. The character is basically just a guy in black who runs around gunning down thugs, and if after 3 attempts they can't get something good out of that, it seems questionable if it's worth trying a fourth time. Maybe it's time to retire the character from movies.

Not to sound mean or anything, but after 3 flops based on the character, I can't help but wonder what it is about this character that keeps drawing movie makers back to him.

 

[Karelia]

I think they should make an animated Punisher movie, I could see that being really awesome!

 

[The Guard]

The Punisher's been done right several times now. The issue is that his adaptions haven't been of high quality. The character himself, however, has been nailed pretty consistently.

 

[Punisher Rising]

I think they should make an animated Punisher movie, I could see that being really awesome!

An R-rated animated film based on The Punisher (and preferably the Max series) would be the best bet to see if the character is still marketable in the film industry. Who knows if Marvel may do an animated Punisher film somewhere down the road.

 

[bullets]

I like Stevenson in the role . I'd rather a cheesy violent Punisher Warzone than nothing.

 

[Project862006]

i agree with guard he has been done right but not as a whole lets take look

PWZ - go the character right but the over the top action came across as cheesy and laughable and cant be taken serious

Punisher 04 - got the grounded story and realism down but Thomas Jane was too much of a pretty boy and Miami based setting was a terrible move

i think a spawn type of animated series is the way to go

 

[Punisher Rising]

For an animated series like the HBO Spawn series, they should get Bradstreet to do the character illustrations and maybe McFarlane Studios to do the basic animation (from what I saw of the Spawn cartoon their animation style would work very well for The Punisher).

 

[cerealkiller182]

Very unlikely. What you're proposing would pretty much be Marvel's Watchmen. And I just don't see that happening.

It has nothing to do with Watchmen at all. Not even thematically, except for the setting at a street level which conceptually lowers the scope dramatically from Watchmen.

 

[Microchip]

Not to sound mean or anything, but after 3 flops based on the character, I can't help but wonder what it is about this character that keeps drawing movie makers back to him.

3 flops based on three low budget (one an ultra-low budget) movies with only one having a recognizable name. Sure, people may know of Dolph, or recognize Wayne Knight as Newman and Ray Stevenson from Rome, but only Punisher 2004 had a box-office draw in John Travolta.

I agree Punisher needs a break before he becomes a laughing stock. If they do bring him to the screen again, they need a fresh route. The ultra-violent, low-budget route clearly isn't working.

 

[cerealkiller182]

Tom Jane wanted to make a Punisher in a similar vain to Taxi Driver. Id love to see that

 

[Punisher Rising]

Tom Jane wanted to make a Punisher in a similar vain to Taxi Driver. Id love to see that

That would've been cool. A lot of people think Jane wanted to turn Frank into a Travis Bickle-like character, but from what I read from statements given by Bradstreet (a close friend of Jane's), he just wanted the vibe and atmosphere of the sequel to be TD-like with how seedy and dark it would be. With PWZ being something of a lighthearted popcorn action film and obviously not something overly seedy or grim, I wonder if the studio had no interest in doing a dark and depressing urban action film like what Jane wanted?

 

[S. Grundy]

With PWZ being something of a lighthearted popcorn action film and obviously not something overly seedy or grim, I wonder if the studio had no interest in doing a dark and depressing urban action film like what Jane wanted?

I'd say so, he did spend like 4 years just trying to get a decent script done in that vein, and well you saw the direction Lionsgate decided to go in.

The fact is the franchise is dead, for the time being at least. Unless Lionsgate wants to keep the character rights, the Punisher will revert back to Marvel in I'd say 4-5 years given that was how long the rights lasted from the 2004 film to PWZ (which is probably a big reason why PWZ was made fast and cheap).

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

No they should not, we don't need another bad Punisher movie.

 

[Punisher Rising]

I'd say so, he did spend like 4 years just trying to get a decent script done in that vein, and well you saw the direction Lionsgate decided to go in.

The fact is the franchise is dead, for the time being at least. Unless Lionsgate wants to keep the character rights, the Punisher will revert back to Marvel in I'd say 4-5 years given that was how long the rights lasted from the 2004 film to PWZ (which is probably a big reason why PWZ was made fast and cheap).

A true shame that The Punisher has had such bad luck getting a consistant film series, although I suppose the DVD sales of PWZ could decide whether or not another movie gets made. The PWZ DVD has been selling pretty well, hasn't it?

 

[Dr. Manhatten]

In the comic book world, he's unique and different. But in the movie world, what separates him from the numerous direct-to-video revenge movies that plague video shelfs each week? What makes the Punisher's story unique? Nothing. Just that he wears a black skull T-shirt