Marvel Studios Founder David Maisel is Building Two Animated Cinematic Universes with FATHOM, SOULFIRE, and Greek Mythology
Marvel Studios’ Founding Chairman David Maisel is going to attempt to build two more cinematic universes. A year ago he teamed up with music industry executive Scooter Braun to launch Mythos Studios, and they purchased a controlling stake in Aspen Comics, which is the publisher founded by comic artist Michael Turner.
They plan on taking Turner’s original intellectual properties and building an animated cinematic universe out of them. They are calling that universe the TurnerVerse. These will be big event-sized animated films that tell an ongoing story over the course of multiple films.
The first two projects being produced in the TurnerVerse are Fathom and Soulfire. The two films are being developed by Kevin Adams and Joe Ksander, the directors of Netflix’s Next Gen. The screenplay for Fathom is being written by Kristin Gore (Saturday Night Live and Futurama), the daughter of Vice President Al Gore. The story centers around Aspen Matthews, “a marine biologist who discovers she is a member of an advanced underwater species.”
Soulfire is being written by Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt (Star Trek: Discovery, Reign) and it tells the tale of an “orphan boy named Malikai who discovers he is the link to a long-forgotten age of magic. With the help of winged goddess Grace, he takes on the dark lord of technology in a quest to bring magic back to the world.”
The second animated cinematic universe they are looking to build is called MythosVerse and this series of films will be built on the characters and legends of Greek and Roman mythology. This MythosVerse will be launched with a musical called Cupid, which will star Justin Bieber as Cupid.
The film was written by Rio 2 scribe Carlos Kotkin based on a story created by Maisel and it will be based on the mythological tale of Cupid and Psyche. Pete Candeland is directing the feature.
Maisel had this to say in a statement:
"We are tremendously fortunate to have found brilliant creative partners whose artistry and storytelling talent will help us bring these very distinct yet universally themed stories to life on the big screen. These three projects reflect our vision for Mythos Studios, which is to immerse viewers in cool, animated universes based on contemporary and classic mythologies that resonate around the world. We are excited to be moving forward with these films."
Bruan added:
"When David and I launched Mythos, we knew we had something really special in both our shared overall vision and the IP we wanted to bring to life. We are thrilled to have best-in-class creatives and executives to help make these stories a reality."
I’m curious to see how this MythosVerse and TurnerVerse projects turn out. It’d be cool if they ended up being great projects, but… only time will tell. As a fan of animated films, I really hope these projects work out. However, I’m definitely more interested in the Fathom and Soulfire projects. A Cupid musical starring Justin Bieber? Not so much.
Source: THR