'Heavy Metal' Will Be Back On Screen...as A Live-Action French TV Show

We've been waiting for word that the David Fincher-produced new version of Heavy Metal might actually go forward. That film, which is an update/follow-up to the animated 1981 version produced by Ivan Reitman, has a number of big directors attached (Guillermo del Toro, James Cameron, Zack Snyder, Rob Zombie, Gore Verbinski and Mark Osborne have all been mentioned) but we haven't had a reliable update in some time. It may never happen.

But Heavy Metal fans (or Metal Hurlant fans at least, that being the name of the French magazine that gave birth to the American mag Heavy Metal) have something new to look forward to. Stories from the'70s / '80s magazine will be brought to new life, in live-action, via a French television show.

Variety says that Metal Hurlant Chronicles will be a live-action show that has already been pre-sold in 20 territories. So it is really happening — in fact, below is the first still from the show. The twelve episode of the first two seasons will be delivered in January 2012. Negotiations for a US distributor are ongoing.

The half-hour segments will be shot in French and English, overseen by director Guillaume Lubrano. Each episode will adapt one or two stories originally published in Metal Hurlant. Sounds like this is a pure anthology, as the trade mentions that each episode will feature different characters. The pilot features two stories, 'Red Light' and 'Cold Hard Facts'.  David Belle (Prince of Persia) and Jean Yves Berteloot (The Da Vinci Code) appear in those stories.