A feature adaptation for one of the most depraved, boundary pushing comic books ever, Crossed, is currently in development. THR reported late last week that The Boys and Preacher comic creator Garth Ennis has penned a script that’s been acquired by indie outfit Six Studios to finance the adaptation.

Crossed is set “in a pandemic-stricken world, in which those who catch a disease are marked with a cross-like rash on their faces. Those afflicted follow their worst impulses — think a zombie apocalypse, but instead of zombies, these are humans who retain their intellect but are homicidal maniacs.”

If that plot sounds familiar, it might be due to the extreme horror movie The Sadness, with filmmaker Rob Jabbaz drawing clear inspiration from the gnarly comic book series.

The original 10-issue series that inspired the movie adaptation ran from 2008-10, with the series spawning more than 200 issues from various writers and artists, including talents like Watchmen writer Alan Moore.

THR reports that “Six Studios is now on the hunt for a director for the project, which they expect to be in the $2 million to $3 million range, though that could increase for the right talent. The plan is to go into production in the fall.”

Those familiar with Crossed know just how gnarly the comic could get, though this list of depraved and disturbing moments gives an idea. For those worried that it may lead to a more watered-down movie adaptation, it sounds like we’re in good hands. “It was the most faithful adaptation possible,” Six Studios’ Carl Choi said of Garth Ennis’s screenplay.

Choi will produce along with Ben Hung of Retro Entertainment and Ken Levin of Nightsky Productions. Hung and Levin developed the project with Ennis and brought the property to Six Studios. Six Studios’ Jeff Huang will executive produce along with Ennis, Carl Amari, and Bill Patterson.

Amazon’s adaptation of Ennis’ The Boys has become one of the most acclaimed and popular comic book series, and it has expanded into multiple spinoffs. Preacher ran for four seasons on AMC from 2016-19. 

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Actor Bill Skarsgård (IT) will unleash “outlandish, brutal, and bloody” violence this week with the release of Lionsgate’s The Crow in theaters, a new take on the iconic tale. Ahead of the film’s release, we’ve got an exclusive image highlighting the bloodshed in store.

The Crow releases in theaters on August 23. 

In the new movie, “Soulmates Eric (Skarsgård) and Shelly (FKA twigs) are brutally murdered when the demons of her dark past catch up with them. Given the chance to save his true love by sacrificing himself, Eric sets out to seek merciless revenge on their killers, traversing the worlds of the living and the dead to put the wrong things right.”

The new image above hails from the “Opera House” clip released last week and included below, featuring Skarsgård in full vengeance mode. 

Director Rupert Sanders said of the sequence, “We relish in the majesty of the opera being performed while experiencing the violence and actions of Eric, who kills an endless stream of Vincent’s people to get Shelly back. It’s an opera within a movie, but it’s really about high culture smashing into low culture. There’s a ballet to the violence. The action is outlandish, brutal, and bloody, and it’s a little bit pushed. With the action cut with the opera and set to the opera’s score, the violence becomes its own ballet.”

Stunt coordinator Adam Horton (Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, The Dark Knight Rises) shared his approach to choreographing the standout action sequence at the Opera house, calling it a “blood opera” and what inspired him was “dark, painful torture, and to feel the emotional torment when designing the action within Eric’s journey.”

Zach Baylin (King Richard) and Will Schneider wrote the script, with the new movie of course based on James O’Barr’s original graphic novel that spawned a previous film franchise.

Danny Huston (30 Days of Night) also stars alongside Laura Birn (Foundation), Sami Bouajila (A Son), and Jordan Bolger (The Woman King).

The new movie is rated “R” for…

“Strong bloody violence, gore, language, sexuality/nudity, and drug use.”

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Mortal Kombat will have some company in the film adaptation arena. Sega’s 1993 Sega Genesis brawler Eternal Champions has been picked up for an adaptation, courtesy of Skydance and Jurassic World and Kong: Skull Island writer Derek Connolly.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Eternal Champions project will have Ellison, alongside Dana Goldberg and Don Granger producing for Skydance. Meanwhile, Toru Nakahara, who has been head of the adaptation of Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, will produce on behalf of Sega. Rob Ree, who was able to bring Skydance and Sega together for the project, will server as executive producer, while Aimee Rivera will oversee the project for Skydance.

The Eternal Champions adaptation isn’t the only videogame-to-film project Connolly will be working on, as he’s also involved with Sony and Nintendo’s adaptation of The Legend of Zelda.

Released in 1993 as part of the fighting game craze, Sega’s Eternal Champions followed an omniscient being known as the Eternal Champion, who foresees that mankind will soon fade from existence due to the untimely deaths of key people throughout history. Seeking to restore balance to the world, the Eternal Champion gathers these nine individuals from across time just before their deaths, holding a fighting tournament between them. The victor of the tournament will regain their life, as well as changing their fate while bringing balance to the universe.

As was the case in the wake of Mortal Kombat, Eternal Champions featured bloody over-the-top finishing moves specific to each stage, known as “Overkills“. The game was followed up by an update in 1995 for the Sega CD called Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side, which boasted additional characters, more Overkills, and other finishing moves.

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