It’s a no-brainer why a big screen adaptation of Alan Moore‘s "The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen" looks so attractive, particularly in this era of shared universe/sequel/spinoff franchise moviemaking. Teaming up Allan Quatermain, The Invisible Man, Dr Jekyll, Captain Nemo, and Mina Harker to battle against a common foe, you can see the set pieces in your mind and smell the box office dollars. Well, at least Fox thought they did. Back in 2003, ‘League’ was a notorious failure, and a troubled production that would mark Sean Connery‘s last appearance on camera, and pretty much the end of director Stephen Norrington‘s career (he’s only had two credits since, and they were over a decade ago, doing effects work on "Exorcist: The Beginning" and "Feast"). But if at first you don’t succeed….
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That’s right, Fox is dusting off Moore’s ‘League’ and giving it the reboot. But this isn’t the first time they’ve tried to revive the property. Back in 2013, the studio thought about turning the comic into a television series, but it only got as far as the pilot stage, and didn’t get ordered to series. As for Moore, he previously made a pointed effort to voice his complaints about a new adaptation of ‘League,’ but then again, it might be worth remembering he gladly took $1 million from Fox for the rights.
There’s no word yet on who might be writing and directing this new effort, but there’s plenty of opportunity to make something decent out of this property. [Variety]