Roughly 12 years after the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen film launched, 20th Century Fox and Davis Entertainment have plans to reboot the franchise.
When we hear the phrase League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, we usually remember one of two things: The highly-imaginative comic book from Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill, or the surprisingly lackluster film that ended Sean Connery’s career. It’s a fantastic premise whichever example comes to mind, bringing fictional characters like Captain Nemo, the Invisible Man, and Dr. Jekyll into a shared universe. So it comes as no surprise that 20th Century Fox is planning a reboot of the franchise, with John Davis producing through Davis Entertainment.
Originally released in 1999, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen united Mina Harker, Allan Quatermain, Captain Nemo, the Invisible Man, and Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde as a special operations team working for M under British Intelligence. The film version loosely adapted the League’s first adventure while adding characters like Dorian Grey and American action-hero Tom Sawyer to the mix. Fox originally had plans to produce an entire League franchise, but when the film’s worldwide gross only reached $180 million they were quietly swept under the rug.
This isn’t even Fox’s first planned reboot. Back in 2013, Green Lantern writer Michael Green attempted to restart League as a television series but Fox ended the project before casting began. This would be Fox’s third League project in the past two decades.
While the League‘s film and television projects have languished until now, the comic book has become one of Moore and O’Neill’s most successful works. Over the course of three volumes, a standalone graphic novel, and a spin-off series starring Captain Nemo’s daughter, League has grown into a mammoth undertaking covering most of the 19th to 21st centuries. That said, it’s safe to say Moore won’t be supporting any other League projects. His opposition to adaptations is almost legendary at this point, and he was already one of the most-outspoken critics of the first League film.
Source: Tracking Board, via Variety
