‘Green Hornet’ Sucks? ‘Lobo’ Dead? Bodies Litter The Comic Book Movie Landscape

Update: Sony is denying IESB’s report calling it “utter garbage.” However as Anne Thompson says, “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” and she wonders it the final product will resemble a commercial studio movie. Time will tell…

Earlier…

IESB must have hit some scoop motherload, and even though they aren’t always accurate, they sure do seem to be scoring some hit-worthy stories. First, the Joss Whedon-on-“Avengers” story, then the potential involvement of another young actor for “Spider-Man IV” and now, alleged news on two major upcoming comic book movies, one already troubled, the other still in gestation.

The biggest news (or rumor if you will) of the bunch is that Sony is allegedly none too happy with what Michel Gondry and Seth Rogen have to show for themselves in “The Green Hornet.” The film, which is slated for a December 22nd release, is rumored to be “a disaster.” IESB alleges that Sony, who must have left this project completely alone, are finally coming to see what we’ve all realized since the project took shape months ago. Apparently the doughy Seth Rogen, who slimmed down from his originally portly body shape, does not “look the part,” which always seemed dicey anyway — you can turn the wiry Tom Hardy into “Bronson,” but you can’t shape the rotund Rogen into a Tom Cruise or Vin Diesel-type.

Apparently, Sony insiders also claim that the tone is too “campy” and are “displeased” with the work of left-field directing choice Gondry. Likely this has to do with Gondry’s ever-loosening handle on his craft since “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” as Gondry’s seen diminishing returns since he broke off from Charlie Kaufman. Sony doesn’t like any of this, especially with the maybe-juggernaut “Tron Legacy” as well as “Little Fockers” and “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” already staking a claim to that release slot. Rumors of the film being beefed up with 3D combined with Sony’s displeasure with the product suggest a release date change is possible. But you didn’t hear it from us. Or did you?*

Next up: “Lobo.” The comic book about a galactic bounty hunter had attracted the interest of hitmaker Joel Silver, but it began to gain momentum when Guy Ritchie took over the director’s chair and superproducer extraordinaire Akiva Goldsman took a producer’s credit. Supposedly, the WB has cooled on the project, with Ritchie abandoning the gig for a “Sherlock Holmes” sequel and with the ubiquitous Goldsman drawing some criticism for his recent projects with the company.

Goldsman is a driving force behind the WB’s “The Losers” and “Jonah Hex,” both which had some unexpected trips to the screen. “The Losers” has been a victim of constant reshoots, behind-the-scenes infighting and a few release date changes which is bound to happen once you hire a guy like Sylvain White to direct. White, who somehow previously juiced almost two hours out of “Stomp The Yard,” is a former straight-to-DVD artisan who seems like a dubious choice for the high-throttle actioner “The Losers” is supposed to be, but these terrible-looking movies don’t direct themselves, you know.

“Jonah Hex” has had an even rockier development. Originally directed by Jimmy Hayward, “Hex” has become a victim of severe post-shoot rewrites, leading to entirely new sequences directed by pinch-helmer Francis Lawrence (“I Am Legend”). Again, this is probably mostly about a questionable directorial choice — Hayward’s last job was a co-directing gig on the animated “Horton Hears A Who,” and he probably wasn’t the best choice to take on a script originally from the “Crank” guys Brian Taylor and Mark Neveldine. Once Ritchie left “Lobo” for Sherlock Holmes-ier pastures we all kind of assumed it was dead, but Goldsman’s current track-record suggests a few projects would fall to the side. It’s good to know the WB learned nothing from when Goldsman’s Faustian, franchise-killing script for “Batman and Robin” scuttled all DC-related comic properties for almost a decade.

Then again, all this distrust and misunderstanding of directors makes us think studios are just desperate to squash any film that sounds a little unusual or left-of-center. Not to say “Green Hornet” and “Lobo” were going to become timeless classics, or even genre highlights, but some of these ideas screamed “buyer beware” from a distance, and millions are being thrown away because some executives aren’t paying close attention. And the WB finally growing wise to Akiva Goldsman? How very 1990s of them. All of this screams “rich people trying to cover their own asses” and at a certain point, viewers have to get the message. – With additional reporting by Eric T. Voigt *No.