A few years ago Frank Miller was a virtual unknown outside of the world of comic books. Sin City certainly changed everything. Miller’s adaptation of The Spirit hits theaters later this year, but what next? IGN reports that Miller will climb back into the directors chair to tackle a remake of Buck Rogers. Miller will supposedly tackle the project when he’s finished on The Spirit, however Nu Image have shot back with claims that no deal is yet in place.
Nu Image/Millennium Films plans to develop a $40 million film with genre veteran Flint Dille, who penned a Buck Rogers graphic novel in the 1990s, attached to write and produce. The current plan is to turn “the cheapness of the low-budget effects will be a running joke in the movie, which will retain the campiness of the 1980s TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century starring Gil Gerard.” My hope is that this approach doesn’t result in a slapstick tone.
For those of you who were born post-Back to the Future (I find a lot of generational entertainment is lost in people born of the internet generation), Buck Rogers was created in 1928 by Philip Nowlan. The basic premise is as follows: Rogers, a pilot/astronaut who falls into a coma, only to awaken in the twenty-fifth century. Best known from the long-running syndicated newspaper comic strip, Rogers also appeared in a 12-part 1939 movie serial, a 1979 television series, and in many other incarnations. The development of space technology in the twentieth century launched Buck Rogers into American pop culture.
Discuss: Do you want to see Frank Miller remake Buck Rogers? If not, which director do you think would be better for the job?
May 8th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
joss whedon, with the guy (nathan something) who played mal on ‘firefly’ as buck.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
“the plan is [sic] “the cheapness of the low-budget effects will be a running joke in the movie, which will retain the campiness of the 1980s TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century starring Gil Gerard”
If the ‘plan’ is laid out before a script or director, why would Frank get involved?
Besides, he already did all of the above with Robocop 2 & 3.
If anything, Frank’s geared toward new ideas. And yes, as far as Hollywood in concerned, the Spirit is a new idea.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
for some odd reason i imagine Tarantino directing this but its out of his genre.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Frank Miller’s Buck Rogers:
Buck beats up space hookers.
May 8th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
IS this the Frank Dille who used to write the Transformers and G.I. Joe cartoons?
May 8th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
no.. this is the Frank Miller who wrote The Dark Knight Returns and Batman Year One.. plus he had an amazing run on Daredevil and created Sin City and the under-rated Ronin comic mini-series.
May 8th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Miller’s Buck Rogers would have to be R-rated. If so, I love the idea.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:55 am
Wasn’t the 80s TV series a continuation of the theatrical movie?
I seem to remember seeing Buck Rogers in the theater as a kid.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:56 am
OK, just checked IMDB. The pilot with Gil Gerard did indeed get released a theatrical movie.
May 9th, 2008 at 5:09 am
So is the recent Hollywood nerdgasm going to see studios just squeezing every piece of rotten fruit they can get their hands on? I thought an Ant Man movie sounded retarded…now this? I cant wait for the remake of Mansquito.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:41 am
STOP THE BULLSHIT AND FILM SIN CITY 2 & 3 BACK TO BACK!!!
May 9th, 2008 at 8:49 am
I know that this might sound contradictory, but although I enjoyed Sin City, I’m starting to think what’s the point of making more of them? He’s just gonna make some more line by line frame by frame copying of the comic into a film format. What’s the fun in that? At least in a Buck Rogers remake, it’s Miller re-inventing a character, a new story, fresh visuals (hopefully not in black and white). If he’s only going to put in half the intensity he put into Ths Dark Knight, it should still be a hell of a good flick.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:01 am
A reamke is welcomed for this but I dont want a hokey, campy, funny movie. I want a Cool Big Budget Sci Fi movie done right.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:15 am
bedebedebedebede
May 9th, 2008 at 10:45 am
I’ve never heard of Buck Rogers before this. From the poster at the top of the post, I would have guessed it was a Star Wars rip off.
May 9th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
I think Frank Miller and Buck Rogers is a great match. I’m not convinced Miller can pull off campy (see Robocop 3) but I much prefer someone like Miller over a hack artist like Brett Ratner or Michael Bay.