Producers Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, chairman of Platinum Studios, and Gale Anne Hurd, founder of Valhalla Motion Pictures and producer of THE TERMINATOR and this years upcoming AEON FLUX, announced that they are developing Top Cows spiritually themed comicbook MAGDALENA as a feature film. Kevin Taft, who recently signed a writing deal for New Line Cinemas ALONE, has been tapped to pen the script.
MAGDALENA is about a young woman named Patience who discovers that she is part of a lineage of female warriors descended from Mary Magdalene. Patience must accept her destiny in time to save the world from a supernatural evil.
MAGDALENA is exactly the kind of project we love: a strong female lead character, a story with rich mythology, and compelling characters, said Hurd. The religious overtone adds a new dimension to the adventure story, while Kevin Tafts terrific storyline still deals with realistic, contemporary issues in an entertaining and relatable way.
Magdalena is the first religious-themed comicbook character to be translated to film. The character has been translated into 26 languages in 55 countries and has appeared in millions of comicbooks worldwide.
Magdalena is one of the most popular characters from the Top Cow library we have been introducing to the industry. The character, which is already available also as toys, has tremendous potential to cross over onto online, interactive games and other merchandising, said Rosenberg. Platinum Studios is very excited to be working with Gale and Valhalla on this project, because Gale has always excelled at presenting strong female characters, from AEON FLUX back to TERMINATOR, which was not only a seminal action movie, but also a compelling female-empowerment story.
Rosenberg, who helped bring the MEN IN BLACK franchise to the big screen, is currently working with Hurd to produce ATLANTIS RISING as a tentpole.
Co-creator and Top Cow Prods. ceo, Marc Silvestri (WITCHBLADE, DARKNESS) will also exec produce. The need for faith in any form is what MAGDALENA is about, said Silvestri. Patiences journey is, ultimately, about having faith in something God, a loved one, or the human condition and the need to believe in something that is greater than ourselves.
Platinum Studios signed a pact with Top Cow in 2004 to develop Top Cows comic library for film, television and other media. Platinum Studios and Top Cows comicbooks are set up at most of the major studios, including COWBOYS AND ALIENS at Sony, UNIQUE at Disney, MAL CHANCE at Miramax, THE DARKNESS at Dimension, WANTED at Universal, INFERNO at Warner Bros., RISING STARS at MGM and FATHOM at Fox, as well as a multi-picture pact with financier Gold Circle.
The pictures development will be overseen by Valhallas evp Gary Ventimiglia and vp of production and development Steve Emery, and Platinum Studios director of development Aaron Severson and director of production Jay Burns. Top Cow Prods. president Matt Hawkins will co-produce.
Platinum Studios (www.platinumstudios.com) is an entertainment company that controls the worlds largest independent library of comicbook characters, which it adapts and produces for film, television and all other media. Platinum Studios library contains more than 2,500 characters and a full range of genres and styles that have appeared in hundreds of millions of comics worldwide. Platinum Studios has acquired the exclusive rights to develop Top Cows extensive library of comicbook characters as well as Europes largest creator-owned comicbook syndicate, Hexagon Comics, for film and television.
Top Cow (www.topcow.com) was founded in Dec. 1992 and publishes its line of comicbooks in 21 languages in more than 55 different countries.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
