20th Century Fox Working On A ‘Lumberjanes’ Movie
For anyone who has been desperate to see some female ensembles on the big screen outside of romantic comedy fare, we have some good news. 20th Century Fox is developing a live-action adaptation of the Boom! Studios comic bookLumberjanes. This is also good news for anyone who’s getting sick of superhero comic book adaptations, because this is something a bit different.
Get more details on theLumberjanesmovie after the jump.
Lumberjanes is a comic book first published last year, created byShannon Watters, Grace EllisandNoelle Stevensonand illustrated byBrooke A. Allen. The story follows five Lumberjane Scouts at Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types who find themselves battling supernatural forces over the summer. And for the music lovers out there, each issue ends with a track listing for a mixtape created by one of the principal characters. All right, that sounds pretty damn cool.
The comic book became a surprise hit after originally only being planned as an eight-part limited series. But after strong sales, critical acclaim, and nominations for two Eisner Awards (including Best New Series), the comic is now a full-fledged series.
The Wrapreports the comic will be adapted byWill Widger, who has been getting attention around Hollywood after making theBlack List last year with a script calledThe Munchkin. That project is a noir thriller with flares of Chinatown that follows a little person detective who stumbles upon some conspiracies linked toThe Wizard of Oz. It’s set up at Red Wagon and Paramount Pictures, but we haven’t heard anything about the project moving forward yet.
Fox executiveKira Goldbergliked Widger’s take on the comic book, and she andRyan Jonesare overseeing the project for the studio while Boom! Studios executivesRoss RichieandStephen Christywill also act as producers along withAdam Yoelinas co-producer. And it sounds like there’s going to be plenty of girl power on this project, because producers are already brainstorming female directors to be at the helm once the script is done.
There have been plenty of strong female characters on the big screen lately, such as Katniss Everdeen inThe Hunger Games, Tris Prior inDivergent, Scarlett Johansson asLucyand of course Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa inMad Max: Fury Road. But we’ve yet to see a strong female ensemble come together in a film like this. Zack Snyder tried withSucker Punch(which has beenvehemently defended on the site before), but it didn’t connect with audiences. And sadlyJem and the Hologramsdoesn’t look like it’s going to help.Lumberjanes, however, sounds like something extremely fun with the potential for some cool characters for talented young actresses to dig into.
Do you like the sound of aLumberjanesmovie? Do you think we need some strong female ensembles in genre films?
