In 2008, Wanted ushered in an age of comic book movies that would exist alongside the current Marvel and DC powerhouses. This was partially in thanks to comic writer/ comic film producer Mark Millar, who would go on to adapt his other work in comics into films such as Kick-Ass, Kingsman: The Secret Service, and the upcoming Fantastic Four film. However, the movie business moves fast, and a producer needs to have a lot of irons in the fire – which means that in addition to the proposed Hit-Girl movie that Mark Millar has in his head, he should be lining up some more immediate prospects on the launching pad. Hope you're a fan of Starlight and/or Chrononauts, because those are the next two projects Mark Millar says are moving briskly to moviedom.
JoBlo recently chatted with the man himself to get an update on all things Millar, and sure enough he mentioned that the not too distant future should herald two new franchises that will be up and running. Hoping to have both Starlight and Chrononauts up and running around the same time a potential Kingsman sequel would be filming, Mark Millar gave some very specific updates on both projects. First, he had this to say about the status of Starlight:
I think Starlight's screenplay is finished now, it was written by Gary Whitta, he finished the screenplay a couple of weeks back and we're just moving forward now looking for a director.
You may know Witta as the writer on such films as The Book Of Eli and After Earth, as well as video games Prey and Telltale Games' The Walking Dead series. However, he's also been making news as the writer of the first Star Wars Anthology spinoff, Rogue One. As for the source material involved, Starlight tells the story of Duke McQueen, an aging "space hero" who's returning to the world saving game after decades out of circulation. As for the status on Chrononauts, Millar's update was less further along, but just as promising, as he remarked the following:
...there's one of the actors already and we're just looking for the second guy. Those two I think are the most likely to be the next two out, and then we should have another three ready to roll next year as well.
Chrononauts involves the adventures of a duo of time travel pioneers, and their adventures throughout the fourth dimension. The project is currently set up at Universal, with Millar serving as an executive producer on the project. Starlight, on the other hand, is set up at Millar's current production home, 20th Century Fox. With both projects sounding like they should be in active production as of, at the latest, the end of this year – as well as three more projects ready for 2016 – it looks like Mark Millar is trying to take on the likes of Zach Snyder and Kevin Feige, without the benefit of widely known characters. The advantage though is that Millar created these properties, so the integrity of the source material should hold up pretty soundly.
Even if you're tired of comic adaptations, this should be welcoming news due to the fact that Mark Millar's characters are off the beaten path, and provide an effective palette cleanser for a market saturated with characters some of us have seen since we were young kids. The field's about to get a little more crowded, but if these films hit the way they should, the industry could be on the perch of another shift akin to 2008's comic movie glory. In the meantime, you can see Millar's next film production on August 7, when Fantastic Four takes its bows in theaters.
