The Valiant Comics cinematic universe continues to expand as The Hollywood Reporter brings word that Reginald Hudlin will direct the film version of Shadowman, revising a 2012 script by J. Michael Straczynski with Salem showrunner Adam Simon.
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Hudlin made a name for himself in the ’90s directing comedies like Boomerang, House Party and The Ladies Man, then shifted to television work. He’ll make a return to directing with the Thurgood Marshall biopic Marshall starring Chadwick Boseman, and he also produced Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. In addition, he has background as a comic book writer, including a run on Marvel’s “Black Panther.”
Created in 1992 by writers Jim Shooter and Steve Englehart along with artist Mike Manley, Shadowman is a saxophone player named Jack Boniface who chooses the wrong woman to go home with one night and wakes up the next morning with enhanced abilities. After taking on the mantle of “Shadowman,” Jack uses his enhanced strength, speed, regeneration ability and the ability to see in the dark to fight supernatural crime in New Orleans, including monsters, zombies, and the necromancer Master Darque. Acclaim Entertainment released several Shadowman video games in the late ’90s and early 2000s.
In the planned film, the forces of darkness are determined to claim New Orleans as their own, and Jack Boniface must accept the legacy he was born to uphold, in order to stop them. As Shadowman, Jack is about to become the only thing that stands between his city and an army of unspeakable monstrosities from beyond the night. He must pay a high price and master his new abilities before Master Darque brings down the wall between reality and the eldritch darkness of the Deadside.
The Sean Daniel Company’s Sean Daniel and Jason Brown will produce Shadowman with Valiant Entertainment’s Dinesh Shamdasani, and the film will be developed in-house before going out to studios.
In the Valiant movie world, movement is also afoot on an Archer & Armstrong movie with Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland, Gangster Squad) attached to direct with Terry Rossio (Pirates of the Caribbean franchise) to write the film as an action comedy. It was also recently announced that Sony’s Bloodshot movie had added Dave Wilson of Blur Studios to direct, with Academy Award-nominated writer Eric Heisserer (Arrival, The Thing) penning the script. Heisserer is also writing another of the Sony/Valiant features, Harbinger. It was previously reported that Sony was hoping to develop two films in the respective Bloodshot and Harbinger franchises before crossing them over with a Harbinger War feature film, though it remains to be seen if those plans remain or will in fact materialize.
