Surfer stand-alone movie? From the LA Times June 13th ...

[Hellmistress]

'Silver Surfer': Make it gnarly

Fans tend to think a PG 'Fantastic Four' is wimpy. So maybe the silver guy's spinoff will be edgier.
By Jay A. Fernandez, Special to The Times
June 13, 2007

Feeling bullish on the eve of the release of its "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," Fox has already put a feature spinoff into development that will star the enigmatic Surfer, with J. Michael Straczynski currently crafting the screenplay.

Despite lackluster reviews, the first "Fantastic Four" raked in $329 million worldwide, apparently a result of its appeal to younger viewers. So the sequel, which opens Friday with a story by John Turman and Mark Frost and a screenplay by Frost and "Simpsons" writer Don Payne, has skewed its tone even softer. This has resulted in a PG rating, which has provoked a disgusted outcry from fans online who churlishly point out that even Harry Potter is now too gritty for 11-year-olds.

They may have a point, given that this film ostensibly features a Christ-like harbinger of doom like the Surfer and Galactus, a God-like destroyer of worlds whose rep may be a little inflated. Reports from the project's development indicate that the producers kept trying to purge Galactus entirely from early versions of the screenplay.

Well, perhaps the studio has heard the negative static, since it apparently hopes to spin the new Surfer franchise in a darker direction to attract the slightly older demographic of its X-Men films. If so, Straczynski, whose original screenplay "The Changeling" is on director Clint Eastwood's slate, is a logical pick for the Surfer story line.

A longtime writer of television science fiction on "The Twilight Zone" and "Babylon 5," Straczynski has also spent much of the last few years writing for Marvel Comics on properties like "Amazing Spider-Man" and "Thor" (also in development with a Mark Protosevich screenplay and "Layer Cake's" Matthew Vaughn reportedly negotiating to direct). Straczynski recently penned 15 issues of Fantastic Four for Marvel, and the first issue of his "Silver Surfer: Requiem" series just published last month, with three more in the works.

Seems like Straczynski's on the rise too.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...&coll=la-headlines-entnews&ctrack=1&cset=true

HM

 

[Abaddon]

says I have to register

 

[Hellmistress]

says I have to register

I posted the entire article on he original post. Hmm ... registering, huh? Bugger. Sorry about that.

HM

 

[Advanced Dark]

Whoa wait a minute...Matthew Vaughn to direct Thor!!!!????!!!!!

 

[Dynasty]

Whoa wait a minute...Matthew Vaughn to direct Thor!!!!????!!!!!

my thoughts exactly, I guess he showed a lot of potential before he dropped out of X3.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Wow, already in production? Thats cool.

And Vaughn for Thor? Haven't seen any of his movies, so I am not sure how good a choice he is.

 

[Fried Gold]

I'm placing my bets now on the Surfer turning human at least once in the spin-off flick.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Do flashbacks count?

 

[Spider-Fan]

JMS is a good choice for writer, btw.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

JMS is a good choice for writer, btw.

Agreed. Big Sci-Fi background, and his first issue of Silver Surfer:Requiem earlier this month was nothing short of excellent.

Very good news.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Agreed. Big Sci-Fi background, and his first issue of Silver Surfer:Requiem earlier this month was nothing short of excellent.

Very good news.

Didn't read it. What's it about? If it is good, I may give it a try.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Didn't read it. What's it about? If it is good, I may give it a try.

Basically, Surfer isnt feeling right and goes to see Reed Richards and discovers he is dying...he then decides to spend what may be his final days visiting old friends and places throughout the galaxy...

 

[Spider-Fan]

Basically, Surfer isnt feeling right and goes to see Reed Richards and discovers he is dying...he then decides to spend what may be his final days visiting old friends and places throughout the galaxy...

That does sound pretty good. I may give this one a shot.

Plus, it will give me my first insights to JMS's take on the Surfer, and what I can expect from his writing.

 

[the a1ant]

JMS is such a good writer, and the Silver Surfer is right up his territory. Great choice!

 

[Spider-Fan]

He is a great writer. Just a lousy Spider-Man writer, lol.

 

[mjbull23]

It makes sense that they would try to produce a "darker" surfer movie that skews towards an older demographic. This sounds interesting.

 

[Spider-Fan]

After seeing FF2, CAN'T F'ING WAIT!!!

 

[Gabe99]

From AICN:
Joe Carnahan May Do DAREDEVIL!! Fox & Marvel In Talks About Swapping Silver Surfer And Galactus Rights!!

The Kidd here...

If you've been waiting, hoping and wishing for Marvel to get their hands back on the rights of some of the properties they had sold away in the past, then today is your lucky day. No, they're not getting back Spider-Man or the X-Men, but the Silver Surfer and Galactus may be in play, and all it's going to cost Marvel is a little more time without Daredevil.

Let me explain...

20th Century Fox has been trying to get something started with a DAREDEVIL reboot for awhile now, ever since Ben Affleck and Mark Steven Johnson damaged the property with their subpar 2003 solo film for the character. David Slade has been attached for quite some time, although there has hardly been significant progress in getting a new film into production.

And now Fox's backs are against the wall.

According to Variety, unless Fox has a new DAREDEVIL picture in front of cameras by October 10, the rights to Daredevil would then revert back to Marvel Studios. But not so fast...

Fox has plans to turn DAREDEVIL into a "Frank Miller-esque, hardcore 70s thriller" with none other than Joe Carnahan at the helm... but it's going to take them a little more time to get such a film together, much later than that October deadline.

So here comes Marvel coming to the negotiating table with all the leverage in the world, willing to let Fox extend their time frame in order to make the less family-friendly version of DAREDEVIL.

But what do they want in return? Silver Surfer and Galactus.

Marvel is willing to trade that extended use of Daredevil in exchange for the right to use characters from the Fantastic Four segment of the Marvel Universe, with their eyes set on Silver Surfer and Galactus for use in their further expansion of the Marvel Movie Universe, post-AVENGERS.

Josh Trank is attached to direct a FANTASTIC FOUR reboot for Fox, but that doesn't mean the Surfer or Galactus has to be a part of his vision for the foursome. It also means we may be moving closer to bringing the rights together for quite a few of these characters with Marvel Studios perhaps partnering up with Fox on future pictures that may involve those whose rights don't belong to Marvel currently.

Negotiations are ongoing, and really the choice is Fox's right now. They can risk losing Daredevil for nothing, as October is rapidly approaching and looks like an impossible date to make in order to hold onto those rights, or they can offer up a couple of characters that don't hold as much value to them in order to proceed with Joe Carnahan doing DAREDEVIL. It's quite clear which characters are most important to each studio, so let's see this deal happen, and some really quality flicks made as a result, because just the possibilities of such an agreement are extremely exciting.



-Billy Donnelly

"The Infamous Billy The Kidd"

Will Fox and Marvel make a trade for Daredevil and Galactus?
It's starting to look like the Marvel Universe is getting even bigger

It was bound to happen eventually, and I had a feeling Fox was going to the company that finally made it happen.

Ever since Marvel Studios started making their own movies, fans have been wondering about the possibility of the characters that are currently owned by other studios making crossover appearances into the Marvel Universe that's been built, film by film, over the last few years.
Today, it looks like that's starting to happen, and it's a fairly exciting development in terms of what opportunities it sets up for this second wave of Marvel movies and also for one of the characters that is staying at Fox. David Slade recently left the "Daredevil" reboot that Fox has been developing, and now it looks like Joe Carnahan may step in with a take that is being described as a "Frank Miller-esque hardcore '70s thriller," which sounds like the exact right approach to the character. Carnahan hasn't commented officially, but he just Tweeted a very cryptic "DD - MM - 73," so feel free to interpret that as you see fit.

It sounds like it's still premature to say that's a done deal, but time is something that Fox does not have on their side right now. They have to make a "Daredevil" movie sooner rather than later, or the rights revert to Marvel. That's something Fox would like to avoid, and since they have a bargaining chip, it looks like they're going to play a lightning round of "Let's Make A Deal" where the real winner will be the audiences.

Word recently broke that Josh Trank, director of "Chronicle," is set to direct the reboot of "Fantastic Four" for Fox, and with Jeremy Slater set to write it, I'm confident they've got a creative team onboard who will approach the characters with respect and style. Part of the "Fantastic Four" deal includes other characters, including Galactus and the Silver Surfer. Now, considering we already know that Phase Two of the Marvel Studios movies is more cosmic in terms of setting and content, it would seem like Galactus and the Silver Surfer would fit perfectly into that game plan. And now, according to Variety, that's exactly what's going to happen.

So Marvel agrees to give Fox more time to get their "Daredevil" film right, and Fox agrees to give Marvel the rights to use their own characters in the larger film universe. That sounds like a giant bag of win/win to me.

Obviously, all of this could still go south, and it could also easily change between now and when those films are finally released. All of this right now is still an ongoing discussion between the studios, but this is the beginning of the breaking of the dam between what Marvel owns and what the other studios optioned, and if it goes well, I hope we'll see more of this in the future.

It really is just a matter of time until we see Spider-Man onscreen with the Avengers, isn't it?

We'll be paying close attention, and we'll have more as this story develops.

From /film:
Columbia is Definitely Rolling Forward With Ghost Rider 2; Daredevil and Silver Surfer Projects Confirmed

The Variety source article also mentions in passing that Fox is “quietly developing a new version of Daredevil and working on a Silver Surfer film.” We’ve known both of those projects existed in theory, but this is the most recent word of forward motion. If I remember correctly (and do let me know if I’m wrong, as after the first film I stopped paying much attention to a Fox-developed Daredevil project) the last time we heard about this, another Daredevil flick was merely being ‘considered’.

Would a Silver Surfer film essentially reboot the character? You’d think so, since Fox is already committing to rebooting the studio’s take on the Fantastic Four, making the Surfer’s cinematic intro moot. Rebooting the FF but continuing with the established Surfer would be some real Earth 2 sorta ****.

From Collider:
Screenwriters J. Michael Straczynski and Matthew Sand on BROTHERS IN ARMS, FORBIDDEN PLANET, SHATTERED UNION, RED STAR, SILVER SURFER, WWZ, and LENSMEN

Q: Is your Silver Surfer draft dead?

JMS: What happened was when FF2 didn’t do as well as they hoped it would do, it caused them to call into question a Silver Surfer movie. The script that I wrote picked up right where FF2 left off. So if they do a Silver Surfer film down the road, it’ll have to be its own separate things.

Q: Fans thought the tone wasn’t right. Was yours geared at children?

JMS: It was definitely adult fare. I wanted to tell the origin of the Surfer and get into that whole thing.

 

[cherokeesam]

In the interest of full disclosure: the top two links you posted, Gabe99, are brand new and are real news (i.e., the possible discussion between Marvel and Fox over DD and FF movie rights). The bottom two are from articles that are three years old. So you've got to take into consideration that those reports of a Surfer movie and, to some extent, the Daredevil movie are way, way outdated.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

What I would give for a Surfer standalone movie and then for him and Galactus to be integrated into the MCU, it would just mkae the cosmic side of things VERY interesting and even more amazing.

We could finally get to see things like Annihilation and the Annihilators!

 

[AvengeME]

I don't think Surfer needs a stand alone. We got the gist in the FF sequel. General audiences don't need additional back story and origins. Surfer is pure spectacle and should be used as such. Keep Lawrence Fishburne if possible.

He needs to be used in an ensemble. In fact, GotG without a major player like that will come off as pretty lack luster to the public once the trailer hits. Silver Surfer gives instant credibility. Plus Thanos probably won't be the featured villain either, so Marvel isn't packing a huge punch in either the hero or villain department.

 

[Lord]

I think Silver Surfer deserves his oun film, that film has been in development since the earlt 90s, even Quentin Tarantino was interested at some point.

 

[YoungE808]

I agree that the Surfer doesn't need his own film. With Marvel films getting steered a bit into the galactic realm, it's easy to see where the Surfer can fit in along with Galactus.

 

[Silver Surfer]

If Marvel can get SS, they need to make him the center piece of GotG.

 

[psylockolussus]

I don't know if Silver Surfer should get his own movie because I don't know his story. But in terms of box-office performance, I don't think it will do well.