Well that didn’t take long. The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed the story we brought you last week here, and now we know that Spider-Man director Sam Raimi will indeed resurrect The Shadow as a feature film.

Columbia Pictures has bought the property for Raimi to produce through his Buckaroo Entertainment shingle. The original rumor last week was that the film would involve not only The Shadow, but a bevy of other pulp novel characters. But The Hollywood Reporter only mentions The Shadow as part of Columbia’s official announcement on the subject. They describe this as if it is a Shadow solo project.

That’s odd, since it’s already been done before. In 1994 Alec Baldwin starred as The Shadow in The Shadow, a box office flop but a movie I contend is much better than its reputation. It’s beautifully shot and the score is amazing. Baldwin makes the character interesting and the movie really has its moments. I guess Raimi thinks he can do better.

In fact, the character is supposed to have been one of the influences for Sam’s Darkman movies. The similarities are undeniable. Raimi’s a big fan. Still, to me the project made more sense as a pulp hero cavalcade with The Shadow in it. That would differentiate it enough from the Baldwin movie. As a solo project… I’m just not sure 1994 version’s body is cold enough yet.

So who is this Shadow fellow? He started out as a popular character in cult novels from the 30s and 40s and became even more famous by a radio series. He fights evil with the power to cloud men’s minds. Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!