Fox plans to reboot League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
by Doc on May.27, 2015, under Movies
Could this be the final sign that studios are out of original ideas? It’s one thing to want to reboot something that has shown success (Sony is about to embark on it’s third reboot of Spider-Man), but Fox seems set on trying to make gold from lead, this time with League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
The 2003 film was a critical and box office failure, but it did at least get a cult following, as does the source material from writer Alan Moore and artist Kevin O’Neill, which deals with a group of Victorian heroes who band together to help save the world. The characters are taken from various stories of the time: Mina Harker (Bram Stoker’s Dracula), Alan Quartermain (H. Rider Haggard’s novels), Captain Nemo (Jules Verne), Doctor Jeckyl (Robert Louis Stevenson), and the Invisible Man (H.G. Wells) (for the 2003 movie, the character was renamed for legal reasons.) It’s been a while since I’ve seen the movie, but it deviated from the source material in terms of the leaders of the group (in the comic/graphic novel, Harker was in charge with Nemo aiding a lot, while the movie it was mostly Quatermain – likely due to Sean Connery – and Tom Sawyer), and overall I think it just dealt with characters that were too unfamiliar to people. Even in the case of Captain Nemo, although in the Verne novels he is an Indian prince, most portrayals were by British or American actors.
I was overall less than impressed with the acting and the visuals, but I do remember the one bright spot was with Tony Curran as Skinner (not THE Invisible Man, but invisible, making a noticeable performance a major feat.) Even Connery permanently retired from acting right afterwards.
Back in 2013 Fox committed to a put pilot (they would have to air the pilot regardless if they pick it up to series, or pay a penalty) for a TV adaptation, but from what I hear the pilot was rejected, and I haven’t seen any sign it will ever air. This movie appears unrelated to the pilot, with a different production team in the form of Ira Napoliello (Mr. Popper’s Penguins) and Matt Reilly, and John Davis (Mr. Popper’s Penguins, I, Robot).