Producers Mark Canton, chairman and chief executive officer of Atmosphere Entertainment MM, and Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, chairman of Platinum Studios, an entertainment company that controls the world’s largest independent library of comic book characters, announced today that they will develop Platinum’s graphic novel Killing Demons as a feature film. A screenwriter will be announced shortly.
In Killing Demons a man, whose family was slain by supernatural creatures when he was a child, devotes his life to hunting down the demonic creatures that prey on humanity. Killing Demons is written by Peter Siegel and illustrated by Brent White. Through the self-publishing and independent distribution efforts of its authors, Killing Demons received critical acclaim and had sales enough to place it in the top 100 graphic novels for 2005.
Rosenberg and Canton first worked together when Canton was chairman of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Companies, where he green lit the billion-dollar franchise “Men in Black,” a comic book property introduced to him by Rosenberg. Atmosphere MM’s current slate of films features several graphic novel/comic book adaptations, including 300, based on the best-selling graphic novel by Frank Miller, and Books of Magic, based on the ongoing comic book created by Neil Gaiman — both of which are for Warner Bros. Pictures, as well as The Spiderwick Chronicles, based upon the best-selling book series by Tony Deterlizzi and Holly Black for Paramount Pictures.
“‘Killing Demons’ is the kind of movie I really like making,” said Canton. “It’s in the vein of ‘Men in Black’ — an exciting, heroic big-screen adventure with comedic moments, lots of action and franchise potential. It will be a great addition to Atmosphere’s slate of upcoming films and I’m looking forward to producing it with Scott, Steve and the Platinum team.”
“‘Men in Black’ was a huge success and we hope to raise ‘Killing Demons’ to the same level,” said Rosenberg. “It is great to have the opportunity to work with Mark again, especially with such a unique and intriguing project as ‘Killing Demons.'”
After the success of Killing Demons, Rosenberg founded Platinum Studios and has acquired the world’s largest independent library of comic book properties containing over 2,500 characters that have appeared in hundreds of millions of comics worldwide. Platinum recently announced a financing and production deal with Relativity Media LLC and IDG Films for two back-to-back films based on the Witchblade comic book franchise and also signed the Pang Brothers to direct Platinum’s upcoming feature, The Darkness, both along with Top Cow Productions. Platinum Studios’ properties are set up at most of the major studios, including: Cowboys & Aliens at Sony, Unique at Disney, Mal Chance at Miramax, Wanted at Universal, Inferno at Warner Bros., Fathom at Fox and Meet the Haunteds at NBC.
Canton and Rosenberg will produce the Atmosphere Entertainment MM and Platinum Studios production. Atmosphere MM’s head of production, Steve Barnett will be Executive Producer and Platinum Studios’ Director of Development Aaron Severson and Director of Production Jay Burns will be Co-Producing.
Source: Platinum Studios
