Variety reports that Lions Gate Films has signed a deal to acquire feature rights to various graphic novel titles by Steve Niles. The films will serve as starring vehicles for actor Tom Jane, who previously starred in Lions Gate’s The Punisher.
The first movies to be produced under the deal will include adaptations of Niles’ The Lurkers, In the Blood and The Dark Country. Jane will star in all three films, as well as produce them with Niles.
Screenwriter Tab Murphy (Brother Bear, Tarzan) has already been hired to adapt “Country.”
Niles has said he and Jane are launching a banner, called Raw Entertainment, to create comics and genre film fare. Jane and Niles’ company will have a first-look deal with Lions Gate to produce other projects that Niles creates or that they bring to the mini-major.
Source: Variety
