Waypoint Entertainment announced today that they have acquired the rights to two Mark Millar (Wanted, Kick-Ass, Kingsman: The Secret Service) properties, American Jesus and Supercrooks. Waypoint’s Ken Kao (The Nice Guys) will produce big screen versions of both with partner Dan Kao and Addictive Pictures’ Russell Ackerman (Mama) and John Schoenfelder under their first-look deal.
American Jesus, drawn by Peter Gross, follows a modern twelve-year-old boy who realizes he is the second coming of Jesus Christ who has returned to Earth in the present day in a final effort to save mankind. With illustrations by Leinil Francis Yu, Supercrooks meanwhile offers a cool, funny heist story about eight super-villains forced out of retirement in an attempt to rob the world’s most notorious crime boss.
Millar’s work includes Marvel‘s Civil War and The Ultimates, both of which served as inspiration for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Several of his original works, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Wanted, and Kick-Ass, have all been adapted into successful feature films and franchises, and other recent hit series such as Superior, Chrononauts, Empress, Huck, MPH, and Starlight are already in development for film or television.
“I only come to LA one week a year and do all my meetings in the pub during those seven days every September,” says Millar. “On my most recent trip I met these guys and was wowed by their plans and the scale they’re working on. Leinil and I couldn’t be more delighted to have ‘Supercrooks’ up and running with such talented people. Peter Gross and I have held ‘American Jesus’ back for a decade until the right team came along. This really is that team! The level of talent we’re talking about behind the camera has us all ridiculously excited. Fans of the books are in for an absolute treat.”
