The Umbrella Academy - The Movie?

i think it'd be cool if they make a movie...but like some of you guys said...they better not ruin it...i mean, some comic movies made somehow would make like want to read it instead than to watch it on screen...

Well, getting a movie made takes a loooong time. A couple of months to shoot and a few more till it comes out yeah, but basicly years to get written and casted and sold to a movie company and distributors and things... so don't get 2 xited bout all of this yet

blackparadeisdead!:

awww i bet gee would start crying
hes so cute<333
wow gerard must be so proud of himself!
he went from being denied by cartoon network and in a deep depression to a lead singer of a famous band and creating a wonderful comic book
lol lifes great!<3333

Lol yes, that would be the best revenge on Cartoon Network he could possibly have.

More likely they're making the movie as a cash cow because they know MCR fans would see it.

Thousands of thousands of MCR fans=dollar signs
Product tie ins=more dollar signs
(If I see TUA figures at McDonalds I'm going to be hella pissed.)

This alone might bring the quality down. However, I hope Gerard wouldn't allow it to be completely retarded as no author would want their work to be mutilated.

I also hope, if MCR isn't in the movie, that they have some songs by them.

All im hoping is that it dosent turn into spiderman,with a bunch of toys for kids and people ripping of the characters by putting crappy somehow not copyrighted pictures of them on daycare centers.THAT would piss me off

blackparadeisdead!:

I also hope, if MCR isn't in the movie, that they have some songs by them.

Gerard has said over and over how he wants his career as a comic book writer and his career as the frontman of MCR to remain seperate.
I doubt any of MCR's music would be in the movie, and if it was, it would be because the song itself fit the plotline, not because it was Gee's band.

^^ i was just about to write that!!

agreed 100%

i extremely doubt that the band will have anything to do with the movie.

pssshhh that would kickass
umbrella academy rox
its so creative and i would total go to the midnight premiere of that and dress up!

demolition.loverxx:

blackparadeisdead!:

I also hope, if MCR isn't in the movie, that they have some songs by them.

Gerard has said over and over how he wants his career as a comic book writer and his career as the frontman of MCR to remain seperate.
I doubt any of MCR's music would be in the movie, and if it was, it would be because the song itself fit the plotline, not because it was Gee's band.

Yeah in a lecture at SVA Gerard said that if he was going to make an umbrella academy movie or anything, the only reason an MCR song would be in it would be because it fit in with the story.

[quote="demolition.loverxx"]

blackparadeisdead!:

Gerard has said over and over how he wants his career as a comic book writer and his career as the frontman of MCR to remain seperate.
I doubt any of MCR's music would be in the movie, and if it was, it would be because the song itself fit the plotline, not because it was Gee's band.

The way movie optioning works, Gerard would be lucky if *he* was involved in the movie. Look at what happened with Alan Moore. While Hollywood is rather creator-centric at the moment (look at "Hellboy" and "Sin City" ) it may not always be, and if the creator asks too much, the studio has every right once they've bought the property to tell the creator to get bent.

His best bet is to get good representation and never let go of the clause that allows him to retain some say in the final version. That's not to say the filmmakers won't still change things (look at "Stardust" ) but hopefully it will still be recognizable as what Gerard intended.

For some weird reason A Series of Unfortunate Events always reminds me of Gerard... Okay sorry random, just saying...

Doesn't Gerard currently retain artistic control? If so, he has made it clear that he isn't interested in a movie deal at the present time. I would think that on the Dark Horse end, Scott Allie would have some say as to what gets optioned out as well - I can't see him agreeing to this right now, either.

As long as Gerard does *not* accept any options for the film, DH has stated that they will honor their agreement and allow him *full* ownership of the property.

I am assuming that Gerard insisted on something like this in the first place, as not every publisher allows creator control of a property. However, DH does seem to respect a creator's right to their ideas -- Mike Mignola has been publishing Hellboy with them from the beginning and he retains all rights pertaining to it. (He also chose a director who was a fan of the book, Guillermo del Toro, who also happens to be an amazing human being with a huge heart and a great sense of humor -- anyway, he worked with Mike on every aspect of the film, so the final product had Mike's full approval)

It's like at Disney, for example. (I use that because I know it and people who are animators there, and it's something everyone knows) Chris Sanders -- who also does comics -- came up with the idea for Lilo and Stitch. He pitches it to the Disney higher-ups, they love it, they give it the greenlight. But, Sanders had to sell the idea to Disney, who then employed *their* artists to make the film. None of the artists own any image they drew -- although the decision was made to use Chris's ideas for how the characters would look, and the film looks as if he had animated every second of it himself -- everything remained the property of Disney. Sanders got credit for the film, voiced Stitch, and negotiated a percentage of the profits for whatever perpetuity they decided amongst themselves. But he no longer owns the idea -- it's not Chris Sanders' Lilo and Stitch, it's Disney's Lilo and Stitch. Does that make sense? I'm typing while I'm loopy, and I think it shows.

I guess a comic example would be pretty much any DC or Marvel icon character. We'll use Superman. Seigel and Schuster created the character for DC, that was part of their job. DC owns the rights to any and all Superman books, merch, movies, etc --*but* Seigel and Schuster will be forever credited as the creators, and they or their estates will be paid royalties on anything anywhere that is (legally) created using the character of Superman. Now obviously if some lady in the Bahamas weaves Superman into one of those bags that they sell to the tourists, DC and anyone involved will never see a dime -- which is why companies crack down so hard on copyright infringment.

So going back to the original question -- to my knowledge, at this time, Gerard has heard the idea for a film, but is not ready to relinquish creative control, so TUA and all its characters and related minutae are registered trademarks of Gerard himself and DH takes their percentage for their fee as publisher, but he retains control of the property and what is done with it.

^ Thanks, Tabs - I knew you'd be able to explain that coherently to everyone

psychochip:

So going back to the original question -- to my knowledge, at this time, Gerard has heard the idea for a film, but is not ready to relinquish creative control, so TUA and all its characters and related minutae are registered trademarks of Gerard himself and DH takes their percentage for their fee as publisher, but he retains control of the property and what is done with it.

That is a VERY good point.
If he were to lose control they could say....as I said before...sell Spaceboy at McDonalds and cause Frank to give Gerard the silent treatment for a couple of months.
Or they could turn the movie into a crappy TV series (like what they did with Lilo and Stitch.)
Bill Watterson knew he would have this issue with Calvin and Hobbes and decided not to license it.
I wonder, however, if things might be different if...say...it wasn't Universal wanting to do the movie but Warner Brothers because they already own MCR (through Reprise) and may, therefore, not see the need to control their other "side projects" as much as a rival company.

That last bit is a good point, but Warner /Reprise owns/represents whatever MCR does musically, but not as single members. So Frankie can do Skeleton Crew and Leathermouth on the side, but Warner can't touch either because it's Frankie's label and side project band. On that same token, TUA is Gerard's side project, and has nothing to do with MCR.

Now *if* he wanted to option it, and wanted someone that he trusted, he could ask the people he works with on the music side to recommend people on the movie side who won't do him dirty and will do what he wants with the film. So he may be more likely to want Warner somewhere on the film if he's happy with his label and what they've allowed him to do with his band, he will be more comfortable with their people taking over his idea.

okay, i'm saying this under the assumption that Gerard would be okay with having his comic turned into a movie.. i could see it already playing out as a movie, because the style in which the comic itself played out was almost storyboard-like...as a comic, it was a pretty good start for his career, but the overall flow reminded me of storyboards created for animated movies.. it could work.. not saying he would agree to it and relinquish the rights, but if he did, it could work, depending on who was holding the productive reins