Brett Ratner tapped for Valiant's 'Harbinger'

dino · Post by **dino** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 12:57 am

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117982173.html?c=13

Ratner eyes Valiant's 'Harbinger'
Paramount adapting comicbook series into film
By MICHAEL FLEMING
Paramount Pictures has acquired rights to turn the Valiant Comics series "Harbinger" into a live-action feature that will be developed as a potential directing vehicle for Brett Ratner.
Alexandra Milchan will produce with Ratner and Jay Stern. The project may be branded under the MTV Films banner.

Created by Jim Shooter, the "Harbinger" comicbook series became a hit when published in the 1990s. Harbingers are humans with powers that can be unlocked by "omega" harbingers. Teenager Pete Stanchek finds himself on a collision course with an older "omega" who used his gifts to become an evil industrialist.

"The movie is in the vein of a young 'Blade Runner,' as this 17-year- old gifted kid helps other kids tap into these parts of their brains," Milchan said.

Ratner, who directed "X-Men: The Last Stand," was looking for an opportunity to start a superhero franchise from scratch. Project will be scripted while Ratner continues work on other directing projects, including "Playboy," the Brian Grazer-produced film about Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner for Universal.

Valiant Comics is being relaunched by Valiant Entertainment Group, a privately financed company headed by CEO Jason Kothari and chief creative officer Dinesh Shamdasani, both of whom will be co-producers on the film.

Valiant Comics developed a strong following by launching hero franchises that had interconnected storylines (much like DC and Marvel titles). Company, which sold 80 million comicbooks and 8 million videogames, was sold to vidgame company Acclaim Entertainment in 1994 for $65 million but had done little recently as that company hit the financial rocks.

Kothari's group bought the Valiant library last year after Acclaim filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Its plan is to republish its best titles and begin generating new issues by year's end. Valiant signed with WMA to make movie deals for the franchises.

dino · Post by **dino** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 12:59 am

Hey guys. This is an important step for Valiant! Please help spread the news and post a comment if you see it posted on other sites.

EDIT: The news is up at the following links. Would be great if you guys could make some posts in the talk backs

http://www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=6908
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=42823
http://www.variety.com/article/VR111798 ... id=13&cs=1
http://www.beyondhollywood.com/brett-ra ... ger-movie/
http://joblo.com/ratner-turns-valiant
http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/03/11/ ... harbinger/
http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/r ... binger.php
http://blog.newsarama.com/2008/03/11/pa ... tt-ratner/
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/35955
http://weblogs.variety.com/bags_and_boa ... harbi.html

TKWill · Post by **TKWill** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:00 am

WOWZA!!!!

Right out the gate! Congrats, Dino. Best of luck.

Rufusharley · Post by **Rufusharley** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:08 am

Crap! Wow!

cool.

depluto · Post by **depluto** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:14 am

Way to go, fellas!

magnusr · Post by **magnusr** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:17 am

dino wrote:Ratner eyes Valiant's 'Harbinger'

Looking forward to seeing this develop. Please keep us informed every step of the way.

/Magnus

Chiclo · Post by **Chiclo** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:48 am

SWEET

The Spider · Post by **The Spider** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 4:22 am

Blog@Newsarama just mentioned that Variety article, too:

http://blog.newsarama.com/2008/03/11/pa ... tt-ratner/

ncameron · Post by **ncameron** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 4:36 am

Nice work Dino!
Not my first choice as director, but its huge for VEI and you get a producer credit too. Thats huge.
I am already envisioning Sting v. Harada on the big screen.

Who is writing the script?
-neil

StarBrand · Post by **StarBrand** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 4:50 am

How am I supposed to sleep with Valiant news this BIG???
Congratulations Valiant Entertainment!!!

Vault-Keeper · Post by **Vault-Keeper** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 5:03 am

Congrats. Dino! According to the plan I laid out three years ago, next up is a cartoon series, then action figures...

Seriously,....way to go!

StarBrand · Post by **StarBrand** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 5:07 am

I've posted a news item about the movie on my homepage at www.newuniversecomics.com.

siren3-4 · Post by **siren3-4** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 5:26 am

magnusr wrote:
dino wrote:Ratner eyes Valiant's 'Harbinger'
Looking forward to seeing this develop. Please keep us informed every step of the way.

/Magnus

StarBrand · Post by **StarBrand** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 5:29 am

dino wrote:Hey guys. This is an important step for Valiant! Please help spread the news and post a comment if you see it posted on other sites.

EDIT: The news is up at the following links. Would be great if you guys could make some posts in the talk backs

http://www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=6908
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=42823
http://www.variety.com/article/VR111798 ... id=13&cs=1
http://www.beyondhollywood.com/brett-ra ... ger-movie/
http://joblo.com/ratner-turns-valiant

I'm doing some posting now...

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 5:46 am

Very nice. I hope this happens. Rattner. Impressive. Most Impressive.

Wow. There sure is a lot of *SQUEE* about Rattner in those links.

I thought X3 was pretty good. The action was great. I think he will be good for a "new" property like Harby that most fanboys aren't attached to already.

Please keep us updated on where this goes. I'm not too getting excited until it goes into production probably in a few years.

Who would write it?

myron · Post by **myron** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:42 am

Nice dino, very nice

BloodOfHeroes · Post by **BloodOfHeroes** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:55 am

Hmm. A comics property movie that I'd actually go see in the theatres.

CooL!

Fanboy375 · Post by **Fanboy375** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:55 am

OMG. I am probably one of the few that liked ratner's x-men. Way to go Dino!!!

Now I am glad I already have two sets of harby books

Jonathan

Heath · Post by **Heath** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:58 am

Wow, this is great news! Even if the film doesn't get made, Paramount picking up the option is a nice cash influx for VEI! It's great to see something like this actually happening.

And although I'm very excited about the potential movie itself, I'm not so crazy about Brett Ratner as the director. Of course, anything could happen between now and production (if it happens).

I expected something like this sooner or later. As I read the biographies of the VEI team, almost everyone has ties to the movie industry.

StarBrand · Post by **StarBrand** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 7:14 am

I definately feel momentum building at Valiant Entertainment.

cinlach@aol.com · Post by **cinlach@aol.com** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 7:39 am

ratner isn't my first choice either, but i'm not going to condemn the movie before it even gets rolling into pre-production.

congrats VEI!

i look forward to giving you my $9 in ticket money...just do what you can to maintain control over the property.

i know there's a ton of compromises that will have to be made and i know that the story as seen in the comics will not translate unaltered to the screen.

as long as the soul of valiant survives, and harada or sting don't yell "i'm an omega harbinger b!tch!" then everything should be ok.

i can't wait to see more as it develops!

greg · Post by **greg** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 7:58 am

Big name, big budget... endless possibilities!

Phoenix8008 · Post by **Phoenix8008** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:04 am

Spreading the word on ENworld.org message boards so all the D&Ders that are into comics can hear about it too!
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?p ... ost4100668

Great news about the possible movie. Anybody else notice that this is also the first official word on them having new comics coming by the end of this year?! Wonderful news to hear SOMETHING officially. I wonder why they don't have this story up yet on the news page of ValiantEntertainment.com? This should qualify as Valiant news, right?

Heath · Post by **Heath** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:27 am

I know this is

but am I the only one that absolutely hates Variety's writing style?

siren3-4 · Post by **siren3-4** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:34 am

cinlach@aol.com wrote: as long as the soul of valiant survives, and harada or sting don't yell "i'm an omega harbinger b!tch!" then everything should be ok.

. . uh oh . . .

<edits first draft of script>

How about . . . (Harada yelling) THIS . . . IS . . . HARBINGER !!!

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Brett Ratner tapped for Valiant's 'Harbinger'

Brett Ratner tapped for Valiant's 'Harbinger'

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