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Sam Worthington is attached to star in Dan Dare, a big-budget movie version of the English science-fiction character. Dare was hugely popular in Britain in the 50s, appearing each week in the Eagle comic. Jut-jawed Dare, aided by his tubby sidekick Digby, would fight the evil Mekon week after week in its pages. Basil Iwanyk of Thunder Road is producing, with Dan Lin (Sherlock Holmes) and Colin Frewin executive producing.
Frewin has produced a screen version of Dan Dare before. Back in 2002 he produced a dreadful CGI cartoon that aired on Five and Sony TV distributed internationally. I remember going to the launch party. There, the weird assortment of guests included model Sophie Dahl and British radio institution Sir Terry Wogan (71). And that’s the problem. Dan Dare means a huge amount to those who grew up in the 50s. Sixty-something Englishmen will no doubt be thanking Warner Bros with tears of gratitude. I doubt anybody else remembers who Dan Dare is.
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Garth Ennis (Preacher, The Boys) wrote a Dan Dare mini-series in 2008 that was a lot of fun.
Ahhh, so THIS is who that Elton John song is about.
Tim, I grew up in the 70s and 80s and I and most of the folks I went to school with knew who Dan Dare was. Not because I dads made us listen to them waxing nostalgic but because the comic Dan Dare was featured in, was relaunched during our childhood. Anyone over the age of 20 knows who Dan Dare is. The launch party you speak of was indeed a fiasco but that was due to those organizing it not the property itself.
In the right hands this movie could be a massive franchise. I say get Stephen Moffatt to write and Danny Boyle to direct.
I’ve been a huge fan of Dan Dare since I was a kid. My parents paid a fortune to get a subscription to Eagle shipped to Canada!
The Dan Dare stories are fantastic visions of the future and kick-ass adventure (whipping the alien Treens then stopping for a cuppa and some pudding, then back to the ass kicking.)
Dan Dare was originally supposed to be a space chaplain (he was dreamed up by an Anglican minister, after all) who was, mercifully, morphed into a space pilot before issue number one.
Frank Hampson (and his team of ten artists) created artwork that is probably the best, richest, most lush ever produced ANYWHERE. Week-after-week, Dan Dare thrilled the world.
If the producers of this film trust the material they have, they can spin cloth of gold here.
I haven’t followed too closely, but I believe there’s been something of a mini-revival of Dare that has, if not been hugely hot, has at least been well-regarded and gotten the awareness of the character back.
The real question is who is going to play The Mekon?
Sadly they’ve saddled themselves with the extremely dull Sam Worthington, who thus far, has been horrible in everything he’s appeared in.
Don’t be so soft on Sam Worthington. He’s tedious and been atrocious in everything he’s appeared in. This has to be the worst casting decision since the last time somebody decided to cast him. Unless Warners wants to kill the film outright, that is.
Mr Adler clearly doesn’t remember that Dan Dare also opened the venerable “2000AD” comicbook in the 1970s.
As they’ve just made a movie of “The Green Hornet”, the argument that nobody knows who Dare is, is somewhat of a moot point.
The Dan Dare I remember was the fantastic artwork of Massimo Belardinelli in 2000AD – not old enough to remeber the original in Eagle but the 2000AD original interpretation was superb (although it lost it’s way after Dave Gibbons took over art duties.
I’m quite ure that if they get the new Dredd movie right then Dare will follow
I wonder what is happening with this project now? Hopefully it is still going ahead just not with Sam Worthington attached to it, it could certainly work well if done properly (think Sky Captain clearly a Dan Dare homage). As a huge fan of the 80′s incarnation of Dare and of the recent seven issue run by Virgin I really do hope they give it a good go.
As a boy of eight years old I commenced reading the eagle in 1950 Dan Dare was my favourate which was ahead of its time its a pity it was with drewn in the 1960 Ithink children now would still read the eagel in its oridginal contexed with also riders of the range and other interesting articals in the old eagel.
well done warners also mekon was the leader of the treens on venus.
understand,richard branson was a reader of the eagel too I think what is is the developments of space travel one thing it will reduce is wars.