It looks like fans excited by the prospect of a high-production-value film adaptation of writer Greg Rucka and artist Marco Checchetto's recent run on The Punisher will have to wait for something officially sanctioned by Marvel.

The publisher has issued a cease-and-desist order against filmmaker Mike Pecci for his planned film, The Dead Can't Be Distracted, which he says could have been the pilot to a full Web series. That won't be happening now, at least without some serious intervention from Marvel itself.

Here's what Pecci wrote on his website:

What would you do when staring at a letter from one of the biggest, wealthiest companies in the movie business?  They can put me out of business with the snap of their fingers.  Do I have a beef with Marvel?  Absolutely not.  I think they have become so huge and that my film is lost in the belly of the corporate beast.  I want the right people at Marvel to see this film, to rescue our film, and to hopefully be inspired by my love for this character.

His new tack is a letter-writing campaign to Marvel's creative division, asking them to watch the film.

His post also explains, in detail, the entire process of making the now unlikely-to-be-seen film. There's also some stuff in there about whether fan films are OK or not, with some arguments about how Marvel pulls from pop culture for its own comics. I'd say it's doubtful that'll fly with the Disney lawyers.

Marvel's official line is that the movie will confuse people into thinking it's an official Marvel production, which should actually make Pecci pretty proud. Marvel didn't object to previous Punisher fan film starring actual movie Punisher Thomas Jane, "Dirty Laundry," or the Venom fan film "Truth in Journalism," both from Adi Shankar.

Here's the trailer, which is about all we're going to see of the movie:

 

 

[Via CBR]

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