Stan Lee’s horror and thriller world is finally getting its own adaptation on the big screen. Film creator Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Searching) will be using his creative vision along with his production company, Bazelevs, to bring Lee’s underworld universe to life, Deadline reports.
Partnering with CCA alum and producer, Ara Keshishian, and his group at ZQ Entertainment, the duo will be taking on Lee’s beloved creations, Sawbones and Carnival of Killers. Joining on the executive production team will be Lee’s very own POW! Entertainment.
Sawbones centers around a weak and meek 12-year old boy named Alex Covin. A fan of all things comic books, Alex’s world is horrifically flipped upside down when he is sucked into the dangerous and scary universe of his latest read. Landing in a juvenile detention center that is ripe with malignant spirits and villainous supernatural forces all under the control of a murderous creature that feeds on the lost souls residing at the center named Sawbones, Alex’s reality is twisted as he questions what is real. He knows that the only way out is to take down Sawbones, but soon figures out that the terrifying being knows his deepest fears and will be thrilled to use them against him.
Taking place in the world of the 1930s Dust Bowl, Carnival of Killers, follows the life of a young girl as she and her mother hide out from the catastrophic storm in a traveling carnival as it makes its way through the American Great Plains. The girl harbors her own secret as she has supernatural, psychic powers that allow her to see that the carnival isn’t all that it seems. It turns out that the carnival is set to be a hotbed for a quickly approaching alien invasion.
Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer, known for their work directing 2019’s Pet Sematary, based on the spooky novel by the same name written by Stephen King, will be penning Carnival of Killers. The directors also worked together on the feature Starry Eyes in which they teamed up as co-directors and co-writers. Matt Greenberg, who worked with the duo on Pet Sematary as co-writer, will bring his scribing skills to Sawbones. Greenberg boasts writing credits for films such as horror thriller, 1408, which featured the talents of both Samuel L. Jackson and John Cusak as well as Jason Blum’s Halloween H20.
On his glee in bringing these dark Lee works to light, director Bekmambetov said:
“There is no other mastermind who has created more successful entertainment than Stan Lee. I’m excited to bring to the screen the darker side of his creative genius and imagination.”
Fans of Lee’s superhero adaptations for film will be filled with joy to know that these lesser known, yet just as incredible, works will be making their way to the big screen sometime in the near future.