League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen Reboot In The Works
A seemingly unlikely reboot is in the works at Hulu. "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," the comic book from the legendary Alan Moore and artist Kevin O'Neill that was famously turned into an underwhelming blockbuster in 2003, is getting a do-over from Disney's 20th Century Studios. This time, the franchise will get a new shot at life in the streaming world.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Justin Haythe ("Revolutionary Road," "Red Sparrow") has been tapped to pen the screenplay for the reboot. Currently, this is being eyed as a movie that will debut on Hulu. As we learned earlier this year, Disney's 20th Century Studios will be largely used to feed original films to the streaming service, with only some of its output going to theaters. Don Murphy, who produced the 2003 adaptation, is also going to be producing this new iteration alongside Susan Montford and Erwin Stoff. There is no word yet on a director or potential cast, as it sounds like development is in the early stages. To offer some idea of what we're getting into, here is the synopsis for the previous film:
Sean Connery leads a stellar cast in this breathtaking epic adventure in which a legion of superheroes – including an immortal, a vampiress, an invisible man, a monster and a spy – must track down a madman intent on launching global Armageddon! But first they'll have to achieve the impossible – working alongside one another.
The original movie actually served as Connery's last on-screen role in a feature film, making it important in the annals of cinema history. Though many would have preferred that the "James Bond" actor go out on a better beat, that's not how things played out.
Reboots, and streaming, and superheroes, oh my!
It's not difficult to see why Disney/20th Century could see "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" as an appealing property to revisit. It is worth noting that Fox tried to reboot the property as a TV show several years back. The original comics, published beginning in 1999 by DC Comics, remain highly regarded and the film simply couldn't capture what Moore and O'Neil had brought to the page. There is every opportunity for someone else to do that now, especially when comic book filmmaking has come a long way in the past two decades. This may well be a reboot worth taking on.
The 2003 movie, directed by Stephen Norrington, was met with very poor reviews from critics at the time and it took a lot of liberties from the source material. It ultimately grossed $179 million at the global box office against a $78 million budget, which certainly isn't bad. Though it was far from a gigantic hit and the lack of critical buzz helped to prevent it from becoming a multi-film franchise. Perhaps this do-over can get right – or at least closer to right.
"The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" reboot does not yet have a release date set.