David Goyer Executive Producing BATMAN UNBURIED Original Narrative Podcast
Spotify, Warner Bros., and DC recently announced that acclaimed film and television writer/producer/director David S. Goyer (Batman Begins) will return to Gotham City with the new audio drama Batman Unburied. Goyer originated the story for the series and will shepherd the project as executive producer. The series is the first project from the companies’ multi-year agreement to produce and distribute an original slate of narrative scripted podcasts. Spotify, the world’s leading audio streaming subscription service, will serve as the exclusive platform for Batman Unburied which will be developed and produced by Goyer’s Phantom Four production company in association with Warner Bros.’ Blue Ribbon Content. Phantom Four’s Keith Levine will also serve as an executive producer alongside Goyer. Specific details are being kept under wraps, but the series will explore the darker aspects of Bruce Wayne’s psychology.
‘Game of Thrones with parkour’: how will Netflix adapt Assassin’s Creed?
Few video games have endured like Assassin’s Creed. Twelve different versions have been released since the game was introduced in 2007, each of them more or less clinging to the same highly enjoyable formula. Like history? Like climbing things? Like stabbing people in the skull? Like being intermittently scowled at by Danny Wallace? Like spending the final hour of any pursuit genuinely confused about why an alien has come out of nowhere to instruct you to murder everyone with a sort of glowing death apple? Then Assassin’s Creed is for you. So the news that Netflix has just commissioned a live-action Assassin’s Creed series should be cause for celebration. After all, one of its biggest hits of last year was The Witcher – a series that was based on a game that was based on a book – which shows that there’s plenty of demand for this sort of thing. If done well, the Assassin’s Creed series could be relentlessly entertaining. It could be – and this is not a phrase I use lightly – Game of Thrones with parkour. Isn’t that everything you ever wanted?
Marvel Shortens Window Between Print and Digital Comics
Marvel Entertainment has announced that it is halving the wait time for fans choosing to read releases on its digital subscription Marvel Unlimited, with titles now appearing on the service just three months after print release. The change takes effect immediately. Marvel Unlimited launched in 2007, and offers access to the publisher’s digital library of titles — currently numbering more than 27,000 issues — for either a monthly or annual subscription fee. The service is available as an iOS, Android and web app. The move comes at a time when the previous six-month window had meant that Marvel Unlimited’s release schedule had coincided with the publisher’s temporary release suspension in April and May due to COVID. By cutting the six-month window to three months, the suspension is essentially avoided. The announcement also follows DC’s announcement of its own DC Universe Infinite digital subscription service last month, which will see the existing DC Universe multimedia app transformed into a digital comic subscription service with releases appearing six months after print release.
Kevin Smith Developing ‘The Green Hornet’ Animated Series With ‘Peanuts’ Owner WildBrain
The Clerks filmmaker has teamed up with kids producer WildBrain to develop a new series based on the classic superhero franchise. Smith has long been a fan of the Green HorneT; in 2004, he was hired to write a feature film screenplay based on the character for Miramax. That project never materialized on screen – it was subsequently written by and starred Seth Rogen, directed by Michael Gondry and released in 2011. However, the Mallrats filmmaker did turn his screenplay into a comic book series. He wrote the first four issue story arc of the series, which was published by Dynamite Entertainment in 2010. Smith and WildBrain are developing the new animated series to target a family audience. The series will be set in contemporary times, following the adventures of a re-imagined Green Hornet and Kato – now the grown son of the original Green Hornet and the daughter of the original Kato – as they partner to battle crime in Century City. It will also feature the Green Hornet’s ultra-high-tech car, Black Beauty.
