Steven Spielberg, Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Pictures are all still riding pretty high on their success with the remarkable Ready Player One. What do you do when you’re on top of the world?
You keep going.
Spielberg is now joining forces with Warner Bros. Pictures to produce the action adventure Blackhawk, based on the DC Comics series of the same name. Not satisfied with just producing, Spielberg is also thinking about directing the new film. It will be Spielberg’s first comic book movie. One wonders, what took him so damned long to come do this?
The comic book Blackhawk is named for the leader of a small team of ace pilots who fight tyranny and oppression, battling Axis powers as well as other supervillains, from a hidden base known as “Blackhawk Island.” The comic book itself debuted in 1941 and features team members from around the world. Blackhawk was portrayed as a Polish freedom fighter. The title was created by comics legends Chuck Cuidera, Bob Powell and Will Eisner for Quality Comics, but sold to DC when Quality ceased publication in 1956.
Spielberg will produce the film along with Kristie Macosko Krieger, under the Amblin Entertainment banner. Sue Kroll will executive produce, under her company, Kroll & Co. Entertainment.
“It was wonderful working with the team at Warner Bros. to bring ‘Ready Player One’ to the screen,” said Spielberg, adding, “They bring a blend of passion and professionalism to everything they do and have a tremendous history in this genre. I am excited to reunite with them on ‘Blackhawk.’”
Screenplay services will be provided by David Koepp. He’s worked with Spielberg before, co-penning two of the Jurassic Park films (Jurassic Park and The Lost World: Jurassic Park) as well as War of the Worlds and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.1
The last time Blackhawk was in theaters was 1952 as a 15-part Republic serial. Kirk Alyn played the title role (he was also the first actor ever to portray Superman as a live action character, again in Republic serials). The character has made other brief appearances as an animated character in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, and in the direct-to-disc movie Justice League: The New Frontier.
Spielberg’s next two films are the fifth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise and West Side Story, so we’re in for a bit of a wait before cameras start rolling on this one. Our guess is, we should be looking for Blackhawk in theaters sometime around 2021.
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1Oh, well, not every film is a pinnacle of achievement, even for Spielberg …
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