“Jupiter’s Legacy” film news breaks as collection launches in comic shops

By John Freeman on April 9, 2015

Mark Millar and Frank Quitely’s Image Comics-published series Jupiter’s Legacy is headed to the big screen, notes The Hollywood Reporter.

The news comes as Jupiter’s Circle #1, also by Mark and set in 1959, featuring art by Wilfredo Torres, hits comic shops, and a collected of edition of Jupiter’s Legacy arrives in stores.

In Jupiter’s Legacy, it seems the children of the world’s greatest superheroes may never be able to fill their parents’ shoes. When the family becomes embattled by infighting, one branch stages an uprising and another goes into hiding. How long can the world survive when one family’s super-powered problems explode onto the global stage?

Millar is partnering again with Transformers producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, currently adapting Millar’s MPH for the big screen for Twentieth Century Fox.

“We announced [Jupiter’s Legacy] back in early Summer 2012,” Mark reflects in a statement about the movie news on Millarworld. It launched in April 2013, but we’d already had three movie offers for the book before it was even half written. My partner Frank Quitely and I turned them all down because this book really means an awful lot to us. We didn’t want anybody to start writing anything based on a synopsis or an unfinished design. This was a massive project we had undertaken and we wanted everything to be exactly right before any movie people got their hands on it and any kind of development.

“It went on to become the biggest launch we’ve had at Millarworld (beaten only in sales by a single Marvel and a single DC title in launch month).”

Explaining that the books are some of those that have meant the most to him, it’s clear Mark was cautious about just who would get the film rights, but after meeting with former Warner Bros head Lorenzo, a deal was agreed.

“The talent he’s talking about behind the camera convinced me to relinquish the rights to my most treasured book and now I just can’t wait to see where this goes,” says Mark. “Lorenzo bought Harry Potter for Warner Bros and put Chris Nolan on Batman. He’s also the producer behind the multi-billion dollar Transformers franchise so you know he thinks big. It’s going to be the most monumental of all the Millarworld adaptations I think and I’m just honestly really excited.”

According to Hollywood Reporter, meetings are underway to find a writer for the adaptation.

Mark’s Chrononauts also rcently gained a big screen deal at Universal, with Chris Morgan is attached to produce, a story that centres on two scientific genius buddies who are on a time-traveling adventure. Things go wrong, and it’s all televised.

<br /> • Mark Millar and Frank Quitely will be signing copies of Jupiter’s Circle and collected works Jupiter’s Legacy at Waterstones, Glasgow this Saturday (11th April 2015) from 1.00pm. Full details here on Facebook

• Read the Hollywood Reporter “Jupiter’s Legacy” story in full here

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.