The great thing as a comic fan about the success of comic book movies is that eventually producers will look outside the capes and the spandex and see the great concepts outside the norm that can be adapted to the screen. Case in point: Mouse Guard is on its way to becoming a film. .
The Hollywood Reporter states that Matt Reeves (director of Cloverfield and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) will be producing the adaptation from a script by Star Wars: Rouge One‘s Gary Witta.
Mouse Guard is a line of graphic novels created by David Petersen detailing a society of anthropomorphic mice living a medieval era. The titular guard are a band of warrior mice dedicated to protect their mice brethren from predators and other dangers. The concept has just recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, and has won two Eisner Awards, the comic book industry’s version of the Oscars, for the book.
Petersen will also be a co-producer on the film, along with Boom! Studios’ Ross Richie and Stephen Christy, representing the parent company of Mouse Guard publisher Archaia Entertainment.
Reeves is said not to be interesting in directing at this time, and the film will be a computer generated live action film along the lines of The Jungle Book.
As usual, I am of two minds on this. I like what I’ve read of Mouse Guard, and am overjoyed that such a graphic novel can catch Hollywood’s attention. On the other hand, most of the charm of the comic has to do with Petersen’s writing and, more importantly, artwork. It will be hard to translate that into a film.
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