EXCLUSIVE: Wood shavings! Kartoon Studios and British company GFM Animation have teamed up to develop and produce animated features based on the Stan Lee universe.
Characters and stories from the Kartoon-controlled Stan Lee universe will be featured in the five pictures that Kartoon and GFM will co-develop, finance and produce.
A team of Los Angeles-based writers with experience working on various Marvel projects was assembled to develop the initial scripts, working with GFM in London and Kartoon in Los Angeles. The first three treatments will be presented to distributors at the Cannes Film Festival.
Lee, who died in 2018, is one of the most prolific character creators of all time. During his time as editor-in-chief of Marvel, he built today’s superhero universe and made household names like Spider-Man, Thor, Hulk and the X-Men. He eventually rose to editorial director and publisher and was later named chairman emeritus of Marvel. The characters he helped create led to Disney paying $4 billion for Marvel in 2009, creating the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Rights to Lee’s likeness, name and signature, and to characters he creates through POW! created. Entertainment were sold to Genius Brands International (now Kartoon Studios) in 2020.
“With the Stan Lee Universe, we are dedicated to continuing the legacy of one of the world’s most iconic and prolific creators, who continues to inspire fans around the world with current megahits like… Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Versesaid Gregg Goldin, SVP, development and production, Kartoon Studios. “These new projects, developed from Stan’s original ideas, will bring his magic to younger generations and continue to delight his loyal fans.”
GFM is known for features like X factor in the jungle And Explodes: A Looney Tunes Movie, and is also an indie film creator and seller. In particular, an animated film was released 10 lives at Sundance earlier this year, which Damon Wise reviewed here. The film stars Mo Gilligan, Simone Ashley, Sophie Okonedo, Bill Nighy and Zayn Malik, among others.
“Our new partner, GFM, can look back on many years of experience in producing high-quality films for the whole family and has just completed its successful debut 10 lives At this year’s Sundance Film Festival they will once again demonstrate their expertise in the independent animation landscape. We look forward to working with them on this ambitious slate of projects.”
“Stan Lee is a one-of-a-kind creator,” said Guy Collins, chairman of GFM Animation. “The stories and characters that Stan created and helped create have fascinated multiple generations of fans around the world for many decades. We are honored to partner with Kartoon Studios and Stan Lee Universe to celebrate Stan’s tremendous contributions to pop culture and entertainment by bringing high-quality animated films for all ages to big screens around the world.”