Dark Horse comics has always had that market corner that held the unique and interesting “less mainstream” properties. And now it looks like the cash cow of Comics turned movies is going to find Dark Horse properties being the big toybox for Universal Studios.
Right from the Dark Horse’s mouth:
Under the terms of the deal, Universal would have creative access to all Dark Horse characters and properties, as well as any material that Dark Horse might acquire on its own and want to develop as a motion picture. In addition, Dark Horse would have the opportunity to distribute movies through Universal.
This of course has a lot of smaller fanbases excited in quiet hopes that their favourite obscure Dark Horse comic may become a movie. Or not for those who prefer the “indie” feel of their titles and don’t want the taint of Hollywood in their fandom.
I am curious about cross rights however. Dark Horse is keeping the Buffyverse alive and well with its popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics as well as Serenity Comics. Would Universal dare?
So does this increase hopes that there could be a followup Buffy Movie to satisfy the fans? Would they do it without Sarah Michelle Gellar?
Would they do it? I know the rabid fans would love to see it. Are you one of them?
What Dark Horse properties do you think WOULD make a great movie?
great article well written!!!! and very intricate!!
by arul vigg.
Top Dark Horse titles usually anyone can think of, were 20th Century Fox Movies…. So, We ALL know they didn’t get any of those…
They Got X, Ghost and a bunch of other Heroes that cause my sinuses to dislodge scent particles of Die-Cut and Chromium covers along with poly bagged books… Oh the HELL of the early Nineties. (To Dark Horses credit, they did very little of that crap compared to some other publishers…)
Preacher is DC.
Preacher, PREACHER, PREEEACHEEER!
“as well as any material that Dark Horse might acquire on its own”
I”m strongly curious about that myself, because I wonder how it affects DH’s sumbission policies
http://www.darkhorse.com/company/submissions.php#subagree
Now, why Dark Horse. I have some ideas.
First, it will make things smoother if UNiversal decides to continue franchises and needs the Comics plugging – Hellboy, TimeCop and Serenity. It also may quicken the pace of the long limboed Concrete.
Second, New Line Cinema folded. If WB doesn’t want it, here comes a new Mask. Maybe with Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz back…or perhaps, uh, a more “direct” adaptation.
As for licensing, I think that is a seperate area. So much so that if it really does conflict, some of those titles will soon wrap up within a year or so.
I think it definitely has potential to make a great movie. But we all know that great stories can become the worst movie depends on the team that is working on the movie=]
http://quietlyloudblog.com/
Here’s the thing. Compared to movies, or TV, comic books make very little money. Even though most of Dark Horse’s comics are creator-owned, I would imagine that Dark Horse won’t publish a comic without some sort of provision to make movie deals and share in the proceeds.
Fantagraphics, Drawn & Quarterly, Markosia, Top Shelf, Mirage, Aaardvark Vanaheim, Adhouse, Abstract, Ape, Archaia Studio Press, Desperado, Moonstone, Oni Press, Red 5, and even Image are better examples of independent comic publishers.
In terms of Dark Horse’s catalogue other than Sin City, 300, Hellboy, Grendel and Usagi Yojimbo, they also have The Goon, The End League, Rex Mundi, The Mask, The Umbrella Academy, Martha Washington, The Scream, Dead Rider, Speak Of The Devil, Groo The Wanderer, Criminal Macrabe, Fear Agent, Apocalypse Nerd, Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, Hard Boiled, Next Men, Kickback, Madman, The Perhapanauts, Too Much Coffee Man, and a lot more. So I wouldn’t say they don’t have much in terms of their catalogue, but it’s the issue of the fact that Dark Horse dosen’t own any of it. So I guess Dark Horse is acting as more of an intermediate between the creators and the studios.
Oops I meant Drawn and Quarterly is based in Montreal. Still both Fantagraphics and Drawn & Quarterly are more indie than Dark Horse.
I never read any of their comics but most of what I saw on the shelves that they released seemed to be comics based on licensed properties. However, they have published Sin City, 300, Hellboy, Grendel and Usagi Yojimbo which are probably their more well known (not based on a property) titles but wait a minute the first three have already been made into movies.
I don’t understand why Universal would make this deal. What does Dark Horse have that they own?
Fantagraphics is probably more representative of an indie comic company (based out of Montreal too!).
Dark Horse is a comics company where the creators of the comic books own their characters and properties as opposed to DC and Marvel where they own whatever is created under their umbrella (with notable exceptions such as Marvel’s Icon line, and most of DC’s Vertigo line).
What this means in relation to movie adaptions/tv adaptations is that the properties have to be approved by the creators of the comic series before they can go ahead in securing the option, and further developing the projects while Dark Horse will receive some sort of payment for securing the deal and possibly some royalites from the box office, dvd sales, etc. What i am not sure is if Dark Horse had all their creators sign agreements that they were intrested in movie/tv adaptations, and those who were not intrested opted out of the deal or is Universal is allowed to look through Dark Horse’s catalogue and see what they like, and then they have to get that approved by the creators.
In terms of the Buffy, Serenity, Star Wars, Terminator, Aliens, Predator, etc comics that Dark Horse publishes, they are licensed properties that Dark Horse currently has the licensce to produce comics for, they all have to be approved by the licensers before being published. When that license ends the people who hold the license for those properites are free to either re-up their contract with the original company (in this scenario Dark Horse), or take the property elsewhere.
I also think calling Dark Horse an “indie” comic company is stretching it a bit nowadays.
Universal can’t get the rights to do a Buffy movie from Dark Horse, anymore than Dark Horse can get the rights to do a Spider-man comic from Sony. The difference is between developing or acquiring a concept and licensing an existing concept for a different media.