In March, we learned that Valiant Comics was developing their own cinematic universe to compete with Marvel and DC. Now, it looks like the pieces are falling into place with a planned five films to kickstart the universe. The first movie, BLOODSHOT, already has a pair of directors and is aiming for a 2017 release.
The Hollywood Reporter says that Sony has entered into a deal with Valiant to develop two BLOODSHOT films and two HARBINGER movies before combining both into a fifth film titled HARBINGER WARS. While no concrete release is set, BLOODSHOT is aiming for 2017 with JOHN WICK directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski. The directors will work from a screenplay written by KICK-ASS 2 director Jeff Wadlow and THE THING remake writer Eric Heisserer. KINGSMAN director Matthew Vaughn will executive produce the film.
For the HARBINGER movie, Heisserer will script it and a director will be selected soon. The new franchise will be produced by Neal H. Moritz and Toby Jaffe from Original Film. They are the same producers from the FAST AND FURIOUS and 21 JUMP STREET franchises. Based on the success of these films, Valiant is also working on adaptations of ARCHER & ARMSTRONG and SHADOWMAN.
While the casual comic fan may not be familiar with these characters, those who know comics are likely very excited. As for anyone who enjoyed JOHN WICK, you should be very excited to see Leitch and Stahelski helming a comic book adaptation. Especially one with a good deal of violence that would benefit from their operatic action direction.
Whether the Valiant Cinematic Universe works or not remains to be seen, but we can pretty much lock in five films coming soon with BLOODSHOT debuting in 2017.