Brutal and violent, Mike Hammer is a no-holds-barred private investigator created by Mickey Spillane and featured in novels, movies, TV shows, comics, and more. Mike Hammer is set to return to the big screen as Skydance has acquired the rights to the franchise and is planning to develop a movie based on the iconic character.
No writers, directors, or actors attached to the new Mike Hammer movie at this time, which is hardly a surprise given the ongoing WGA and SAG strikes. The rights to the character have been in dispute for quite some time. Mickey Spillane died in 2006, just one month after the death of his manager. The manager’s estate tried to claim ownership of Mike Hammer, but following years in court, those rights reverted to Spillane’s estate.
Starting with the novel I, the Jury, Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer novels have sold over 250 million copies worldwide. When Spillane died, his close friend and fellow author Max Allan Collins was entrusted to complete the various unfinished Mike Hammer stories, the most recent being Kill Me If You Can in 2022. There have been several Mike Hammer movies based on Spillane’s novels over the years, including adaptations of I, the Jury, Kiss Me Deadly, My Gun is Quick, and The Girl Hunters.
Numerous actors have played the detective over the years, including Mickey Spillane himself in The Girl Hunters, which may be one of the very few times an author has played their own character. The actor who played Mike Hammer most frequently was Stacy Keach, who starred in several TV movies (Murder Me, Murder You; More Than Murder; The Return of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer; Mike Hammer: Murder Takes All). Keach also played the role in several TV series, including Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer (which was later retooled to become The New Mike Hammer) and Mike Hammer, Private Eye.
The New Mike Hammer movie will be produced by Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger, alongside Guymon Casady, Benjamin Forkner, and Ken F. Levin. Max Allan Collins will executive produce, with Spillane’s wife Jane also serving as co-producer.