We’re That Much Closer to Another Comics Movie: ‘I Kill Giants’ Movie Has Funding

ComicsAlliance folks are big fans of Joe Kelly and J.M. Ken Niimura's 2008 graphic novel I Kill Giants, with its feisty lead character and manga-style art --- and the lovely deluxe fifth anniversary edition that came out just last year. Thus, it's exciting to hear that the movie adaptation directed by Anders Walter has locked in funding from Treehouse Pictures. Given how many steps it takes to get a comics movie from optioned to actual reality, this means we're that much more likely to actually see an I Kill Giants movie.

Last year, Kelly talked to CA about the book, the diverse audience it brings out, and why he chose a character like Barbara as the lead, saying:

I rarely think about the audience when I’m writing unless the project is age specific — a children’s book, for example. So this was just another story I wanted to write. Since its release, I’ve been amazed by the breadth of readers who have come up to me at a con: from teenagers to forty-somethings and everything in between. It’s been amazing...

I created Barbara specifically to tell this story. Her strength, attitude and style were all critical to the universe of IKG. While I am very proud to think of her as an iconoclastic character on the gender landscape, that wasn’t a driver for her development. I love writing all sorts of characters, and through my career some of my female characters have been accepted more readily than others — but again, I don’t take that reaction into account when I write. I create the character I need.

That said, I am very aware of diversity issues in our medium, and I do try to make sure that all of my characters are as strong and distinctive as they can be.

 

After all, it's not every day --- or at least, it didn't used to be every day --- that a feature film based on a comic with a female lead character gets extra funding.

Variety reports that the film, which Kelly will be screenwriting as well as producing as part of the Man of Action Entertainment group he's in, will be produced by Treehouse, Chris Columbus' 1492 Pictures/Ocean Blue Entertainment, and XYZ Films.