Comic Book Movies --The Spirit

May 7, 2008: Lionsgate has moved up the release of Frank Miller's The Spirit from January 16, 2009 to December 25, 2008. Based on the Will Eisner's comic, the action-adventure romance toplines Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson and Eva Mendes. Miller (Sin City) wrote the adapted script. Lionsgate president of theatrical films Tom Ortenberg said the decision to shift the film to Christmas Day came after the project was presented to fans at New York Comic-Con. Also scheduled for release on Christmas Day are Disney's Adam Sandler starrer Bedtime Stories and 20th Century Fox's Jennifer Aniston/Owen Wilson starrer Marley & Me. Source: Superherohype

April 23, 2008: The teaser poster and other images can be viewed in our CBM Gallery. Plus, you can catch the Teaser Trailer over here!

October 14, 2007: Paz Vega and Jamie King have joined the cast of Will Eisner's The Spirit, co-produced by Lionsgate and Odd Lot Entertainment. "The Spirit" is directed by Frank Miller (writer/co-director of Sin City and author of the graphic novel "300") based on his own adaptation. The action-adventure centers on a man who fakes his own death and fights crime from the shadows of Central City. Vega will play the knife-wielding Plaster of Paris, and King will portray Lorelei, a phantom siren. The duo joins Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes, Samuel L. Jackson, Gabriel Macht, Sarah Paulson, Dan Lauria, Stana Katic, Johnny Simmons and Louis Lombardi. Principal photography begins Monday in New Mexico. -Thanks to 'Superherohype.com'

September 26, 2007: Sarah Paulson ("Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip") has joined the cast of Will Eisner's The Spirit, director Frank Miller's adaptation of the classic comic strip character. Also joining the cast are Dan Lauria, Stana Katic, Johnny Simmons and Louis Lombardi. Paulson joins leading ladies Eva Mendes and Scarlett Johansson in the film noir about a rookie cop who returns from the dead to fight crime as the Spirit from the shadows of Central City. However, while Mendes and Johansson are playing femme fatales, Paulson is playing the hero's true love, Dr. Ellen Dolan, the police commissioner's daughter. Gabriel Macht is on board as Denny Colt/the Spirit, and Samuel L. Jackson will play the villainous Octopus.

August 27, 2007: ComingSoon.net says that Lionsgate has set a January 16, 2009 release date for Will Eisner's The Spirit, written and to be directed by Frank Miller. Garbriel Macht, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson and Eva Mendes will star in the graphic novel adaptation.

August 22, 2007: Frank Miller has cast Eva Mendes (Ghost Rider) in Will Eisner's The Spirit for the key role of Sand Saref, a beauty with dangerous curves. Miller, the comic auteur making his feature-length directorial debut on the film, has welcomed acclaimed cinematographer Bill Pope to make sure the curves are in fine focus. Mendes joins Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson and Gabriel Macht in the fantasy thriller about a rookie cop (Macht) who returns from the dead to fight crime as the Spirit from the shadows of Central City. Sand Saref is described as the only woman who could break the Spirit's heart. As teenage lovers, the two were torn apart when Sand's father was accidentally killed by the Spirit's uncle. - Thanks to 'Superherohype' for the news:

August 19, 2007: Scarlett Johansson will soon materialize as a femme fatale in Will Eisner's The Spirit, being directed by Frank Miller for Odd Lot Entertainment and Lionsgate. For "Spirit," Miller's adaptation of the classic Eisner film noir comic strip series, Johansson is in final talks to play a dangerous beauty named Silk N. Floss. Eisner's strip was known for its women with dangerous curves, and Miller is intent on keeping that tradition. Floss is a sexy and intelligent secretary with a vindictive instinct that makes her the perfect accomplice to the Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson), an evil mastermind. Gabriel Macht is playing the title character, a detective who fakes his own death in order to fight crime in Central City as the masked man known as the Spirit. Production is scheduled to start in October, with the film scheduled to be released in 2009.

August 6, 2007: As reported on Superherohype: Writer-director Frank Miller has signed Gabriel Macht to star in Will Eisner's The Spirit, the Miller-scripted adaptation of the classic Eisner comic book series, reports Variety. Shooting on the film co-financed by Lionsgate and Odd Lot Entertainment begins in October for release in 2009. Odd Lot partners Gigi Pritzker and Deborah Del Prete produce. The Bronx-born Macht was most recently seen in The Good Shepherd and just wrapped the Dominic Sena-directed Whiteout, in which he stars opposite Kate Beckinsale. Macht will play the title character, a man who has faked his own death so he can battle crime from the shadows of Central City. He runs up against the Octopus, a villain who's bent on wiping out the entire city and kills anyone unlucky enough to see his face. Miller insisted that actors who wanted the starring role audition, and Macht won the job in the room.

May 21, 2007: Samuel L. Jackson is in talks to star as a mysterious supervillain in The Spirit, the graphic novel adaptation to be directed by Frank Miller for Lionsgate and Odd Lot Entertainment. The story centers on Denny Colt, an ambitious young cop murdered in the line of duty who under mysterious circumstances is reborn as the masked mystery man known as the Spirit. Jackson would play the Spirit's nemesis, the Octopus, a meek lab assistant who reinvents himself as a psychotic nightmare that kills anyone unfortunate enough to see his face. The Octopus' tentacles reach into every aspect of crime in fictitious Central City, a city he plans to wipe out. -Thanks to 'Superherohype' for the news!

May 21, 2007: Lionsgate announced today that it has secured domestic and U.K. distribution rights to the live action comic book adaptation The Spirit, directed and written by Sin City and 300 creator Frank Miller and based on the classic series by comic master Will Eisner. Adapated from the legendary Will Eisner's graphic novels, The Spirit tells the visceral, action-packed story of a man who fakes his own death and fights crime from the shadows of Central City. The Octopus -- who kills anyone unfortunate enough to see his face -- has a different mission: he's going to wipe out the entire city. The Spirit tracks this cold-hearted killer from Central City's rundown warehouses, to the damp catacombs, to the windswept waterfront... all the while facing a bevy of beautiful women who either want to seduce, love or kill our masked crusader. In the vein of Batman Begins and Sin City, The Spirit takes us on a sinister, gut-wrenching ride of a hero who is born, murdered and born again.

March 8, 2007: The good folks at IGN.com have posted what looks like to be the teaser poster of the upcoming Frank Miller directed The Spirit. I can defintely see the Sin City influence there. Click here for a larger view and then be sure to discuss it on our message boards!

July 23, 2006: Hours before The Spirit movie panel at Comic-Con in San Diego, Frank Miller talked to ComingSoon.net/SuperheroHype.com about his plans for the movie, based on the early Will Eisner hero, which he'll start working on after finishing Sin City 2 with Robert Rodriguez. "I'll take some of the lessons I learned from Robert Rodriguez and that's to use the comics as storyboards and doing my best to be as faithful as possible," Miller told us. "Now, the tone I have in mind will probably surprise a lot of readers, because they're used to the kindler, gentler Spirit from after Will got drafted and his assistants took over. This is going to be a scarier take on it, much more like the earlier stories." Considering The Spirit's long publishing history, we wondered whether Miller had any idea which stories he might use for the movie. "There's a couple," he replied. "I want to use several of the femme fatales and right now, I'm putting together how they're all going to mix up together." He will be using a similar green screen technique used by Robert Rodriguez to make the movie in terms of presenting Will Eisner's very distinctive looking world, and he even said that he's going to try to blend The Spirit title into the cityscape just like what could be seen on Eisner's title pages. "I'm not going to beat you over the head with the logo, but it'll be just the same way that Robert was able to capture the feel of Sin City, I think capturing the more romantic look of Eisner's city will be a lot of fun."

April 9, 2005: Odd Lot Entertainment and Batfilm Productions have begun work on a film version of the late Will Eisner's comic book character "The Spirit" to be scripted by comic book writer Jeph Loeb. Created by Eisner in 1940, the Spirit is a masked detective, believed dead, who fights the criminals of Central City from his cemetary base. Eisner's character appeared in comic strip and comic book form for decades, which have been collected and reprinted in hardcover form by DC Comics in recent years. Eisner, who passed away earlier this year, is heralded to be the originator of the modern graphic novel, and his contribution to comic books as an art form is forever recognized by his name being attached to the industry's most prestigious award. He approved the project before his passing.