Canada has this comic book superhero named Captain Canuck, and after a hardcover reprint from IDW Publishing the character has earned a little more popularity. But a little more than the very little he had doesn’t amount to much. However it does appear to have drawn the attention of Sinking Ship, a studio in Toronto that intends to make a live action feature film.
Comely said he is close to striking a deal with a Canadian production company to make a $15-million live-action version of the comic. He would not say which company he is in discussions with.
Now I have met the creator of this comic and he is a genuinely nice guy – as you would expect any creator of a kinder more gentler super hero from the Great White North.
Captain Canuck is a niche cultural treasure of Canada even though Marvel’s most popular character happens to be a Canadian. Still, the obvious comparisons to Captain America as a superhero patriotic symbol cannot be denied, and is often the source of mockery for the character.
Captain Canuck is not nearly as popular as Captain America, not even as popular as Captain Britain (brother of X-Men’s Psylocke). And honestly $15million is a LOT of money but in the world of big screen films, its pennies. Not to say a film needs a massive budget to be good, but I find the news discouraging.
For instance, Christopher Nolan carries enough weight to his name that if anyone found out that he was directing Captain Canuck, every eye would be on the project wondering what he was going to do with this Canadian cult icon. But instead we are left with an indepenent Toronto film studio picking up the rights to the character.
Maybe they could cast Paul Gross as the highly skilled Federal officier in tights. That is if this ever results in a finished product.
