CONFIRMED!! KUNG FU PANDA director helms Eternia!
It took Variety a while but they have finally confirmed a Latino Review story from Nov. 19th that KUNG FU PANDA co-director John Stevenson has been hired as the latest guy to attempt to bring HE-MAN: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE back to the big screen. Didn't see KUNG FU PANDA but I've heard only good things about his "fresh" take on the typical animated blockbuster fare. I'm oddly excited by his name being attached to this, by all accounts he has shown great enthusiasm and ambitions for the project. Back in November, this project was dead before his "pitch of a lifetime" saved the film and won him the gig of directing what is once again a project Joel Silver is desperate to get on with. The movie will be Stevenson's live action debut and will be based on Justin Marks' "hot" screenplay from 2007. The film is now one of the highest properties at WB and will probably be their biggest release of 2011 or 2012, depending on how production ramps up and what year BATMAN 3 is released. After hearing an awful lot about Marks (who has won deals for his scripts to VOLTRON, HACK/SLASH and the Green Arrow movie SUPER MAX), we will finally see what he can do when STREET FIGHTER: LEGEND OF THE CHIN LI opens next month. Let's hope he is as good as studio's want us to believe.