The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that George R. R. Martin’s popular superhero anthology series Wild Cards is to be made into a movie by SyFy Films and Universal Pictures.
Regular Tor.com readers will reconginze Wild Cards as a shared universe of superpowered people featuring stories written by some of the top names in the SF field. To get an idea of the style and story, read the Melinda Snodgrass story from the latest Wild Cards book Fort Freak: “The Rook.” You can also check out a Carrie Vaughn story recently reprinted from the first Wild Cards anthology: “Ghost Girl Takes Manhattan.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film will have a modest budget and Wild Cards series co-creator Melinda Snodgrass will pen the screenplay.
The Hollywood Reporter issued statements from George R. R. Martin and and Syfy Films production VP regarding the project. Below:
Martin says the multiple voices makes the series stand out and allows newer characters to interact with older ones.
“One of the things we have going is the sense of history,” he says. “The comics in the mainstream are doing retcons [retroactive continuity] all the time. [Heroes] get married, then one day, the publisher changes his mind, and then they’re no longer married. To my mind, it’s very frustrating. [Our stories] are in real time. It’s a world that is changing in parallel to our own.”
“This is, beyond Marvel and DC, really the only universe where you have fully realized, fully integrated characters that have been built and developed over the course of 25 years,” says Gregory Noveck, Syfy Films’ senior vp production who joined the division in May and who targeted the books for acquisition. “The trick for us is to find what’s the best movie.”
No word yet on casting or shooting schedule. You can check out our full Wild Cards coverage here.
I thought this concept had already been made into two films. One Called ‘Alphas’ and the other one ‘Heroes’?
Hmm. My immediate reaction is: Syfy = Bad. But Melinda Snodgrass writing the screenplay = hopeful.
I’d be really curious to see the cast and what plotlines they decide to go with. There are a few squicky enough that I really wouldn’t want to see them on my tv screen.
@toryx, agreed, SyFy = abandon all hope ye who enter here.
I really, really, really hope this works out, and that they have a whole series of movies. (In fact an HBO series like Game of Thrones would be perfect for Wild Cards.)
I don’t know if Snodgrass has screenplay experience but her
Wild Cards work has been great. I love the books so much that I am definitely going to watch this if it makes it to air.
@@.-@
Snodgrass wrote a few episodes of ST:TNG.
My 2-cents: they’ve been saying “Wild Cards movie/TV show” for as long as the books have been published. I’ll believe it when I see it.
If they stick to the first book, and only the first book, this might be worth watching.
Skylark Thibedeau: ‘Heroes’ and ‘Alphas’ were TV series, not movies. I watched both and if either featured the release of an alien xenovirus that triggered mutations in people across the globe with those deformed by the virus gathering together in ‘Jokertowns’ while the Aces achieved global fame I must’ve somehow missed this. It takes a lot more than just superpowers-and-no-costumes for these all to be considered the same concept. If that’s all it takes then you could claim these shows are all ripping off ’60s show ‘The Champions’.
Chuk@@.-@, Commonlaw504@5:
Melinda has extensive screenwriting (and producing) experience, beyond a few episodes of ST:TNG. Check her page on IMDB :) The screenplay is in extremely capable hands.
toryx@2, ThePendragon@3:
It’s not entirely clear from the press release, but just to be clear– the SyFy films division partnering with Universal Pictures to make Wild Cards is NOT the same SyFy/SciFi that brought us such fine films as Mansquito and SS Doomtrooper (my personal favorite). This is an entirely different (and relatively new) side of the NBCUniversal house that happens to share the SyFy name. So we can all relax. :)
Gregory Noveck, the VP cited in the article, is a tried-and-true science fiction fan. He’s an SF and comics guy who just happens to be a studio executive. He’s on our side, okay?
Declaring the project doomed on the basis of a single press release and no additional information isn’t extremely helpful. We’re very happy about this news, but we wouldn’t be if we thought the whole thing was a horrific mistake. Just sayin’.
ITregillis @@@@@ 8:
Well that is encouraging. I’m glad to hear it.
Someone knows what happend? if the film were made?
Yeah, I read these like a fever when I was young, they are great stories nothing like heroes or alphas, the powers are bizarre to strange to beautiful.