Marvel’s Runaways comic book series made headlines earlier this year when Hollywood talent including the likes of Joss Whedon and Peter Sollett became associated with a film adaptation of the property. Whedon of course became the helmsman for The Avengers and Sollett (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist) was chosen to direct Runaways.
With a director found and writer Drew Pearce (No Heroics) signed to pen the screenplay, all we needed was a timetable and today we got just that.
Production Weekly reports that Runaways will begin production between January and July of 2011. While that’s a wide timeframe, it does place its release date sometime in 2012 alongside The Avengers which also begins filming early next year.
Debuting in 2003 from creators Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona, Runaways is an award-winning comic series which follows the story of a group of six teenagers who learn that their parents are super-villains. Together they gather weapons and run away to learn more about themselves and the powers they have, using them for good.
The comic series has been on hiatus for quite some time but we can expect a restart in the near future – especially now with news that the movie is on track for a production start within a year.
We are also now back on track with Marvel Studios’ plan to have two theatrical releases of feature films per year. We of course will see Thor and The First Avenger: Captain America debut next summer and Runaways likely coming out after The Avengers the following summer.
Where does this leave the long-awaited Ant-Man movie by Edgar Wright? Could this project enter production sometime next year and also release in 2012 or do we still have to wait another 3 years before seeing this long-in-development film become a reality? How about S.H.I.E.L.D. and the many other rumored projects in early development from Marvel Studios?
Hopefully with the financial power of Disney, Marvel can up the production capabilities to start work on movies for many of our favorite characters. It’s an exciting time to be a fan.
Thor opens May 5, 2011, The First Avenger: Captain America hits July 22, 2011 and The Avengers is scheduled to debut May 4, 2012. We’ll found out about the rest likely at Comic-Con 2010 next week!
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