Ryan Coogler, Mattson Tomlin Team for ‘A Vicious Circle’ at Universal (Exclusive)
Universal Pictures has landed the rights to A Vicious Circle, a BOOM! Studios graphic novel series created by Terminator Zero showrunner Mattson Tomlin and artist Lee Bermejo.
Tomlin will write the screenplay adapting his own work while Ryan Coogler, the filmmaker behind the Black Panther movies, will produce via his Proximity Media banner.
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Also producing are Proximity’s Sev Ohanian and Zinzi Coogler along with Boom!’s president of development Stephen Christy.
Circle is a two-hander action thriller about assassins from the future hunting each other through time. “John Wick meets Looper” is how it is being described.
The comic has been a sales hit for the publisher, with over 100,000 copies of the first two issues sold worldwide to date and the book translated in multiple languages. The first issue of the series, released in a prestige and over-sized format in late 2022, was nominated for two Eisner Awards, including best single issue/one shot and best painter/multimedia artist for Bermejo. For the comic, the artist, known for his DC work centered on Lex Luthor, Joker and Batman, changed up his fully-painted art style to suit genres and time periods as the characters jumped from one era to another.
Rebecca Cho will executive produce and oversee the project for Proximity along with the company’s Zetra Evans. Boom!’s Adam Yoelin will serve as an exec producer while Mette Norkjaer will act as a co-producer.
Universal senior vp of production development Ryan Jones will oversee the project for the studio.
Tomlin, who wrote the original action movie Project Power for Netflix, is already in the Boom! screen business as he is writing the script for BRZRKR, the adaptation of the company’s comic co-created by Keanu Reeves and set up at Netflix.
He is prepping for the August 29 debut of Terminator Zero on Netflix and is co-writing The Batman Part II with director Matt Reeves. On top of that, Tomlin, repped by CAA, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, and Goodman Genow, is attached to write the HBO Game of Throne spinoff Aegon’s Conquest.
Coogler is currently in production on his untitled supernatural thriller starring Michael B. Jordan for Warner Bros. Proximity is in post-production on Marvel’s Ironheart miniseries. Proximity also produced the documentary Homeroom with Hulu, co-produced Stephen Curry: Underrated with Apple Original Films, A24 and Unanimous Media, as well as Anthem, with Onyx Collective.
Boom! is currently in production on a live-action series adaptation of the spy thriller Butterfly for Amazon MGM Studios, and the animated series Hex Vets & Magic Pets for Nickelodeon.
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