Marvel's muck monster, the Man-Thing.
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Man-Thing

Genre:
Comic Book Adaptation/Horror.

Studio:
Artisan Entertainment.

Production Company:
Fierce Entertainment.

Project Phase:
Post-production.

Who's In It:
Jack Thompson; Rawiri Paratene; Matt Le Nevez; Rachel Taylor; Steve Bastoni.

Who's Making It:
Brett Leonard (Director); Hans Rodionoff (Screenwriter); based upon the Marvel Comics character.

Premise:
Scientist Ted Sallis injects himself with a untested serum that enemy agents want, resulting in disasterous consequences. Sallis transforms into a mindless, shambling creature made of swamp matter and muck. Possessed with a strange sort of empathic power that causes him to be attracted to the fear of others, the creature now known as the Man-Thing prowls the Florida everglades, a danger to those he comes in contact with...for whatever knows fear burns at the Man-Thing's touch!

Release Date:
Fall 2004.

Comments:
None.

Scoop Feedback:

April 2, 2001... Artisan continues to develop the properties it licensed from Marvel Comics last year. The studio's latest announcement is that of a writer for its Man-Thing movie, namely Hans Rodionoff. Rodionoff just completed the screenplay for The Skulls 2.

On a completely seperate note, we've always wanted to say the line "Whatever knows fear burns at the Man-Thing's touch," on CA without some kind of adult movie connotation behind it. Thanks to Artisan for making our dream come true.

Based on the Marvel Comics character, MAN-THING is being directed by Brett Leonard (VIRTUOSITY, THE LAWNMOWER MAN). When scientist Ted Sallis injects himself with an unproven serum he turns into a mindless, shambling creature composed of swamp muck. Attracted to extreme emotions, whoever known fear burns at the touch of the Man-Thing.

We're checking with Artisan Entertainment to see if Moviehole's scoop is on the money. [Moviehole.]

Morning, October 24, 2003... It looks like Artisan's MAN-THING movie won't be going directly to video and not collecting $200. Instead, the studio is hoping their horror picture has legs to earn a tidy sum at the box office: Artisan will release MAN-THING now to theaters on August 27, 2004.

The movie, which stars Jack Thompson, Rawiri Paratene, Matt Le Nevez, Rachel Taylor and Steve Bastoni, is based on the muck-encrusted Marvel Comics monster of the same name. The picture filmed in Australia earlier this year for eight weeks under the supervision of Brett Leonard (THE LAWNMOWER MAN and was written by Hans Rodionoff. MAN-THING is a lower budgeted film, around $15 million dollars, and serves as an experiment for Marvel and another investor (Fierce Entertainment) to see if the comic company's secondary characters can create their own viable film franchises (hey, it worked for BLADE, didn't it?) [The Hollywood Reporter.]

Afternoon, October 24, 2003... Artisan Entertainment released a teaser poster image to coincide with its announcement earlier today about releasing MAN-THING to theaters next August. The teaser poster doesn't show the titlular creature but perhaps it does give us a taste of the atmosphere we'll find in the movie next year. [Artisan Entertainment.]

January 20, 2004... Comics Continuum spoke with Marvel Studios prez Avi Arad and found out how the MAN-THING creature will be realized for the upcoming Artisan movie, set for release this coming summer. "From the outset, Man-Thing was intended to be a prosthetic, CG-enhanced creature," Arad told the website. "So there was a great deal of R&D.

"There's positional stuff happening on location, on the set, but at the same time the stuff you don't currently see in camera was always engineered to be enhanced by digital effects. So when you see the movie, hopefully the line is pretty blurry. It's not an all-CG creature."

Arad also told the site that the movie creature will be more "menacing" than the one in Marvel's comics. "It's a horror movie," Arad adds. [Comics Continuum.]

March 5, 2004... According to a report over at Hollywood Stock Exchange, Lions Gate has removed their late summer horror film MAN-THING from the schedule. Does this mean plans for a theatrical run for Marvel's muck monster have been cancelled and the film will be going direct-to-video?

We've contacted Lions Gate and are hoping to hear a response from them shortly. [HSX.]

March 11, 2004... Lions Gate Films has told us that the company has not changed its plans to release its MAN-THING movie direct-to-video. However, the film's release date, once scheduled for October of this year, is now designated "to be determined" for sometime in the fall.

Rumors heard two weeks ago stated that the movie would be going to home video and not receiving a theatrical run.

[Our thanks to Lions Gate Films for the update.]