DC and Marvel, Beware: Valiant is to Make Films

[BugsySig]

From the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/09/mo...ilms.html?_r=0

DC’s Justice League and Marvel’s Avengers are going to have to make room for even more heroes coming to the big screen. The independent comic book publisher Valiant Entertainment and the Beijing-based DMG Entertainment announced on Sunday a nine-figure investment and partnership for feature-film financing as well as publishing, television and licensing opportunities. Valiant’s library of characters and concepts include X-O Manowar, an alien abductee from the past thrown into the present with high-tech armor, and the series Harbinger, about teenagers with special abilities at odds with a corporation out to shape the destiny of the world. Comic superheroes are profitable and highly sought intellectual properties for film franchises, said Dan Mintz, the chief executive officer of DMG, in a statement, “so taking a stake in the last independent massive comic universe is a strategic investment for DMG that will produce movies and TV that are both appealing and relevant to a global audience.” In addition to developing films for release in the United States and China, the two companies will develop Valiant’s characters for new audiences in China and the Asia-Pacific region. There are plans for Chinese-language publishing, animation and theme parks, as well as toys and apparel

[hunter_peterson]

HELL YEAH! Though the animation part of that announcement makes me hopeful for some Valiant anime. That would be sweet, especially Rai.

[Don C]

I'm going to take a cautiously optimistic stance on this one. Deals like this come and go all the time, but I would love to see Valiant expand into mass media.

[TheFerg714]

From the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/09/mo...ilms.html?_r=0

I think this is a great thing for the company, even if the movie doesn't turn out perfect. In the world we live in, comic-to-movie deals make comics and creators infinitely more popular.

[BugsySig]

I'm going to take a cautiously optimistic stance on this one. Deals like this come and go all the time, but I would love to see Valiant expand into mass media.

The last deal this size was Marvel's deal back in 2005 which led to Iron Man, et al. THis is not an everyday deal by a long shot.

Bare minimum, VEI is going to move strong into the Asian market, which has worked out quite well for a number of properties over the years.

[Tony Stark]

I am happy for Valiant. I really hope they do big things with their characters. Two of my favorite comic characters(Ninjak and Ivar) are part of their universe and I would love to see them on the big screen.

[Jmacq1]

My prediction: The first movie will bomb, and that'll be the end of this deal.

I used to think the talk of the "superhero bubble" bursting was just so much noise (after all, people have been predicting it would come "this year" for like the last three or four years), but between this and the "Brave and the Bold" TV series, I'm beginning to think we well and truly may hit superhero overload.

Nothing against Valiant and their characters, I just think they have a very hard uphill battle to fight to get to mainstream success.

[Judge Dredd]

Nice to hear they are getting a shot, hopefully they have some success with the movies. I do not think Marvel or DC need to beware at all, if anything valiant and whoever will be making the movie will need to beware because they will only get one shot if they fail then it is all over.

[Captain Craig]

I'm very excited about this news. It's high risk for sure but so was Iron Man in '08.
Dark Horse had a chance to really push their then emerging super hero universe with Barb Wire in the mid-90's and they totally fumbled that ball.

I'm hoping for something somewhere in between cause if I hope for an IM type result that'll be disappointment.

I'm pulling for Bloodshot to be the first film. It has concepts that could easily translate for audiences. A super solider(CapAm) with a swiss cheese memory(Jason Bourne) whose seeking the truth no matter how ruthless(Punisher) from an agency, Project Rising Spirit, that is questionable itself.
From a BS movie you could dovetail into Harbinger, G.A.T.E., MI-6 w/Ninjak & the H.A.R.D. Corps.

[BugsySig]

My prediction: The first movie will bomb, and that'll be the end of this deal.

I used to think the talk of the "superhero bubble" bursting was just so much noise (after all, people have been predicting it would come "this year" for like the last three or four years), but between this and the "Brave and the Bold" TV series, I'm beginning to think we well and truly may hit superhero overload.

Nothing against Valiant and their characters, I just think they have a very hard uphill battle to fight to get to mainstream success.

I agree, it's an uphill battle to be sure. But VALIANT comics are not straight superhero comics. They share more similarities with the multitude of Sci fi and fantasy movies which have, and will continue, to be made over the years and forever more. Harbinger is closer to Chronicle than XMen for example. And IPs like Archer and Armstrong aren't like anything out there right now.

[RLAAMJR.]

Oh yeah. I hope Dark Horse will try the big screen too.

[itspopularnowitsucks]

Man I hope this won't stifle the creativity of comics. In Valiant, governments are usually ruthless and some are even comically villainous, even if they are the good guys... with Chinese money pouring, I guess we won't have any more characters like Gang to appear. Chinese business is really serious about political correctness, more so than internet social justice.

Remember they changed antagonists in the video games Homefront or Crysis from China to Korea? Comics are small business, so they get a pass. Once you got to tvs, movies and even video games, lol. It's a completely different league for these matters.

[FriendRoss]

i cringed a little when i heard this... then i thought about a "quantum and woody" movie


huh.. that could, actually work and find a niche in the market