While Warner Brothers has not had much luck in getting the myriad of comic book characters published by corporate sibling DC Entertainment onto the big screen, it has not been for lack of trying. We’ve been keeping an eye on the long, tortured development of movies based on the likes of Wonder Woman and the Flash for some time now wondering if they will ever get movies. But perhaps Lobo will make the leap that the other heroes weren’t able to.
Who is Lobo, you ask? Well, he’s a bit of an anti-hero actually, a seven-foot tall, cigar chomping alien bounty hunter who zips through space on the rocket-powered version of something that wouldn’t look amiss on the set of Sons Of Anarchy.
Deadline is reporting that Warners has hired writer/director Brad Peyton to be the latest creative type to attempt to bring a Lobo movie to reality.
Payton is the latest in a number of writers and directors who have been attached to the project over the years. At one point Guy Ritchie was said to be courted by the studio only for him to decide to do Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows instead.
Although Journey 2: The Mysterious Island did make a decent amount of money at the box office, I do question as to whether Payton, who also has the “masterpiece” Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore on his resume, is the right man to make it happen. Although the character first appeared in 1983, it wasn’t until the 1990s when he served as a parody of the current wave of gritty and extremely violent heroes did the character really become popular. In many ways, the best thing about the character, his connection to a very specific zeitgeist, also makes him very difficult to adapt out of that context. I wonder though if Payton is the guy who can deliver.
In the meantime, here is a short fan film adaption of the one-shot Lobo’s Paramilitary Christmas Special comic. This student film pretty much captures the comic to a tee and if the movie hopes to do the same, this is what they will have to shoot for.
