Robert Kirkman signs first look deal with Universal

Just think about all the books Kirkman’s Skybound puts out and think potential movie deals on all of them, the reason, Universal has signed a two-year first-look film deal with Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment.
The Hollywood Reporter had the exclusive.

Kirkman, the prolific comic book writer and creator of popular AMC zombie drama The Walking Dead, founded the comic book publishing imprint in 2010. It’s under the umbrella of Image Comics, of which Kirkman is a partner.
All of Kirkman’s own comic book creations, including The Walking Dead, The Astounding Wolf-Man, Outcast and Invincible, are under the Skybound label. The imprint also publishes outside work including Witch Doctor by writer Brandon Seifert and artist Lukas Ketner. Kirkman partnered with longtime collaborator, and fellow executive producer of The Walking Dead, David Alpert in the endeavor.
While this deal sparks questions about the possibility of a Walking Dead movie in the future, sources say there are no discussions about such a project at this time. AMC’s The Walking Dead series, a ratings behemoth for the network, has been renewed for a sixth season, and AMC recently greenlit a prequel, Fear The Walking Dead created by Kirkman, that has preemptively been renewed for a second season.
Skybound recently made its first foray into film with Air, a sci-fi thriller starring The Walking Dead ’s Norman Reedus and Djimon Hounsou, which will be released in August. Kirkman has a producer credit on the film, which centers on two custodians living in an underground bunker with cryogenically frozen people. Alpert is the executive producer on The Walking Dead and its companion series, Fear The Walking Dead, and his other credits also include the Jessie Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart film American Ultra, and the George Lopez film Spare Parts.
“Robert and David have proven themselves to be incredible storytellers in a wide range of mediums, and we are thrilled to be Skybound’s partner in the feature realm. We feel confident that their wealth of ideas and expertise will lead to exciting, provocative films for our slate,” said Universal co-presidents of production Peter Cramer and Jeffrey Kirschenbaum.
Also on the TV side, Cinemax is filming a 10-episode drama series based on Kirkman’s newest — the Skybound/Image’s comic, Outcast, which was the subject of a multiple-network bidding war before landing at the HBO sibling. Kirkman’s Skybound comics are also in development at AMC (Thief of Thieves) and Syfy (Clone).
While Kirkman’s properties have had multiple suitors at both cable and broadcast (NBC famously passed on The Walking Dead), he does not have an overall deal on the TV side.

Interesting that it points out that Clone was still in development as news previously had said the deal was dead.
Again, start looking at Skybound produced #1 issues. All of them could be picked for TV or Movie Deals.

15 thoughts on “Robert Kirkman signs first look deal with Universal”

    1. If you made a link to invincible #1 it would make more sense. Outcast #1 is a good spec for cinemax news.
      Invincible. That’s what I want to see. The story is awesome and would make a great movie.

      1. Yeah, Manifest could make an awesome ongoing type show too.. Ghosted would be cool but I see that more of a movie, not ongoing.

  1. As much as I’d love to see Clone made into a TV show, and I hate to be a bubble buster about it, but Syfy dropped it a while ago. I’ve noticed that HR and some other news outlets haven’t updated their cut and paste bios when they have an article about Kirkman

  2. Whoa… I was actually thinking this earlier. I was wearing my Thief of Thieves shirt today and I just glanced down at one point and just thought, “that would make a great TV show.” I think I buy so many comics I’m starting to channel the news! 🙂 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *