While audiences in the United States didn’t seem, well… ready… for Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One, the movie has apparently grossed $476 million worldwide and has everyone involved praising the experience…
Variety reports that while announcing a new deal between Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. to produce Blackhawk, Toby Emmerich, chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures group, said, “We are so proud to be the studio behind Steven Spielberg’s latest hit, and are thrilled to be working with him again on this new action adventure. We can’t wait to see what new ground he will break in introducing Blackhawk to movie audiences worldwide.”
Spielberg himself even gushed, “It was wonderful working with the team at Warner Bros. to bring Ready Player One to the screen. They bring a blend of passion and professionalism to everything they do and have a tremendous history in this genre. I am excited to reunite with them on Blackhawk.”
Based on the classic comic book property, Blackhawk will be Spielberg’s first feature centered on characters from the DC universe, as well as his first “superhero” movie. I enclose the word in quotation marks because, while I’m sure that’s how Warner Bros. would like to promote it, I’ve never considered Blackhawk to be a superhero. The character is the leader of the “Blackhawk Squadron,” an elite group of pilots that fought in World War II. The concept was introduced in 1941 by Quality Comics and acquired by DC Comics in 1957.
So, while not “super,” there’s ample opportunity to be “heroic,” particularly when the screenplay is being writted by David Koepp. Koepp collaborated with Spielberg on Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds and Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. All right, while, except for Jurassic Park, these aren’t Spielberg’s best, Koepp has also written Mission: Impossible (1996) and Spider-Man (2002), so he’s probably a good fit.
It’s unknown when shooting will begin on Blackhawk. It’s probably a good thing there’s plenty of time for development while Spielberg works on his current projects. He’s currently making the fifth Indiana Jones movie, which will be followed by his long-awaited adaptation of West Side Story.
