Legendary's BUCK ROGERS show (TBD) 1 1

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Award-winning comic book creator Brian K. Vaughan has been tapped to write the television adaptation of Buck Rogers for Legendary.

According to The Wrap, Vaughan, the writer behind Y: The Last Man, and more recently Saga, is developing Legendary's new Buck Rogers TV series alongside producers Don Murphy and Susan Montford, whose credits include Transformers and Real Steel, via their Angry Films banner together with Flint Dille, the grandson of the original Buck Rogers creator, Philip Francis Nowlan.

 

The project is based on Nowlan's Armageddon 2419 A.D. novella, published in a 1928 issue of the Amazing Stories magazine. The story opens with Rogers trapped inside a coal mine, where he falls into a state of suspended animation and wakes up almost 500 years into the future. The character rose to further prominence when he appeared in a 1929 John F. Dille comic strip.

 

Now, Rogers is expected to make a comeback in a multi-platform sci-fi franchise at Legendary. This new deal will see the popular property branch out across various projects and platforms, starting with "a big-screen take," which will pave the way for the "prestige television series as well as an anime series, giving audiences a 360-look at heroics sets in the 25th century."

 

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 Colonel Wilma Deering 

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I'm in so long as Twiggy is included.   

 

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George Clooney may be heading into the future. The actor-turned-filmmaker, currently in the awards sphere with Midnight Sky, is circling Legendary’s adaptation of classic pulp hero Buck Rogers in potential multiple capacities.

 

Legendary is currently developing a prestige limited series that is being written by Brian K. Vaughan with the goal of launching a film and an anime off-shoot if the initial series is a success.

 

Clooney has boarded the project as executive producer, along with his Smokehouse Pictures partner Grant Heslov. The project is being developed as a potential starring vehicle although insiders insist there is currently no acting deal in place.

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by Bosco685

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George Clooney has signed on to produce a new Buck Rogers series—and he might star in it as well. Clooney is coming off the recent release of his science fiction film Midnight Sky on Netflix and looks to be aiming at another science fiction project. Development on a Buck Rogers project has been in development for some time now, and with a star like Clooney, the series could gain some serious momentum and attention.

 

Buck Rogers originated in Philip Francis Nowlan’s 1928 novel Armageddon 2419 AD and was spun-off into a weekly comic book series starting in 1929. This popularity eventually led to a 1932 radio program and a 1939 film serial that went on to inspire George Lucas when he was creating Star Wars. The success of Star Wars would then re-ignite interest in the brand as Universal revived the concept in a series titled Buck Rogers in the 25th Century that aired on NBC from 1979 to 1981. While an iconic figure that helped shape the science fiction genre, the popularity of the character and brand is not the hot commodity that it once was. Legendary Entertainment announced they were developing a Buck Rogers project in 2020.

 

According to The Wrap, George Clooney is set to produce a Buck Rogers television series for Legendary Entertainment, with the intention of Clooney to star in the series. Clooney’s longtime producer Grant Heslov is signed on as an Executive Producer under their Smokehouse Pictures production company. Brian K. Vaughan, comic book creator of Y: The Last Man and The Runaways, is currently attached to write the -script.

 

While no network was talked about in the report, there is reason to believe that Netflix might be the eventual home of the series. Clooney’s most recent film, Midnight Sky premiered on Netflix in December. Legendary and Netflix teamed up to bring Lost in Space, another revival of a classic science fiction series, to audiences. Legendary Entertainment announced that they were developing animated series based on Kong: Skull Island and Tomb Raider that would premiere on Netflix. Netflix even offered $200 million for the streaming rights to Godzilla vs. Kong, which Legendary Entertainment was intending to take but was blocked by Warner Bros. to instead keep the film to premiere on their own streaming service, HBO Max.

 

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As previously reported, Hollywood studio Legendary, the home of Godzilla vs Kong, Dune, and Jurassic World, has announced that they are developing a reboot of the classic character Buck Rogers for the modern era, with recent reports suggesting George Clooney is in talks for the title role. Now though things are getting complicated as The Hollywood Reporter brings word that Skydance Media is now developing a competing adaptation but that they're working with the estate of Philip Francis Nowlan, the author who created the hero. There's one big wrinkle though, some tricky legal developments that will make this whole thing something to keep an eye on.

 

The very first story that the character appeared in was a novella titled "Armageddon 2419 A.D." which was published in 1928. Due to a lapse in copyright renewal in the 1950s though it now sits in the public domain, meaning that like The Great Gatsby or George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead anyone is free to adapt it into any medium as they see fit. This is where things get tricky though. Legendary's planned adaptation seemingly stems from this particular story; however, the character in the original novella is named "Anthony Rogers" and not "Buck."

 

Since the character was later renamed to "Buck" after the success of that original novella, Skydance and the estate of Philip Francis Nowlan are claiming Legendary doesn't have the rights to use the "Buck Rogers" name in their reboot, which is still seemingly protected by copyrights and trademarks which they own. Skydance secured the film rights to those in their new licensing deal.

 

THR reveals that a cease-and-desist letter was sent to Legendary today who were told by the Nowlans Estate's attorney that "Buck Rogers" and "Anthony Rogers" are different characters. This would be news to the long-lasting Buck Rogers series though, which means an ugly Hollywood legal fight could be on the horizon.

 

In a statement to the trade, Legendary said they remain full steam ahead on their planned franchise for the character, which according to the initial report will not only a "blockbuster film" but a "prestige television series" (which has hired Saga's Brian K. Vaughn to write it) and an "anime-style animated series." They wrote:

"We have secured the rights we need to proceed with our project and the company will not comment any further on these baseless claims," Legendary's statement reads. "This same party has been claiming for years that they have rights which they do not have and have been trying to inhibit projects based on rights they do not legally control."