Excellent news! Shannon Watters, Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis and Brooke A. Allen's wonderful comic Lumberjanes is set for a live-action adaptation at 20th Century Fox. Published by BOOM! Studios, the comic series follows five diverse, kickass, witty-as-hell ladies as they battle supernatural forces at Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types. It's a damn delightful series, and this will come as absolutely wonderful news to anyone who's read it.
Originally intended for a limited eight-week run, the Eisner Award-nominated comic became such a critical and commercial hit that it was continued as an ongoing series. Per The Wrap, the Lumberjanes movie is a priority project for 20th Century Fox. Boom! Studios executives Ross Richie and Stephen Christy will produce the alongside Adam Yoelin.
The fiercely feminist, female-centric comic is set to be penned by Black List scribe Will Widger who previously penned the unproduced noir thriller The Munchkin. Wait, what? A dude? For Lumberjanes? Huh. Ok, that is...a strange choice, to say the least. Hopefully, he'll collaborate with the series creators, because having an inexperienced male screenwriter pen the script for a female-created property that celebrates the power of female relationships just seems off. Thankfully, The Wrap updates that the studio is eyeing female directors for the project, indicating they've got some sense of what Lumberjanes fans want to see.
In any case, I'm utterly thrilled that there's going to be a Lumberjanes movie at all. These are exactly the kinds of stories females audiences are clamoring for, and exactly the kind of characters I'd like to see the next generation of young girls grow up with. I will now continue my celebratory dance party and pray that a Nimona adaptation is close behind.
Here's the synopsis from the BOOM! Studios official site.
Jo, April, Mal, Molly and Ripley are five best pals determined to have an awesome summer together… and they’re not gonna let any insane quest or an array of supernatural critters get in their way!
The series is a fun mix of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” meets “Gravity Falls,” featuring five rad, butt-kicking teenage girls who go to summer camp, fight monsters, and discover a mystery that puts the whole world at stake, all while championing the power of “friendship to the max!”
