Frank Miller’s The Spirit Getting Two Sequels?
The word over atSuperhero Hypeis the Lionsgate has already negotiated withFrank Millerto direct two sequels to hisSin City-style green screen comic book caperThe Spirit. If true, this would indicate tremendously sweet buzz on the project, as the main character, a detective who fakes his death to more vigilantly pursue the criminal element, and the property, created in 1940 by Will Eisner, have less name value than aDick TracyorGreen Hornet. Comparisons toThe Shadoware apt and we all know how that turned out for Alec Baldwin. And title starGabriel Macht(The Good Shepherd,The Recruit) is less known and box-off tested than an actor like Christian Bale pre-Batman Begins.
But the supporting cast is cake:Sam Jacksonas megalomanical villain The Octopus and then there’s the Playboy Mansion grotto-stocked bevy of foxes includingScarlet Johansson,Jaime King,Eva Mendes,Paz Vega,Stana KeticandSarah Paulson. Actually, those ladies are beyond Hef’s grotto; more like rsvps to the Fountain of Youth. But as you can see from the film’s teaserposter, Miller isn’t updating The Spirit’sMad Men-like duds, with the fedora, tie and a domino mask (which personally, I think should always stay in comic books) are intact.
Keeping the new trend of genre fare in January sizzling (i.e.Cloverfield,Rambo),The Spiritopens on June 02, 2025, less than two months before Zack Snyder’s similarly risky-old school comic adaptationWatchmen. Lionsgate being so sure that Miller’s film will connect with a mass audience, enough so to propel two more films just surprises to me, not to come off negative. IsThe Spiriton your must-see list for 2009 and can you see it being a smash hit?
