Sandra Bullock Joins Netflix Comic Book Movie Reborn to Produce, Possibly Star
Sandra Bullock has booked her next Netflix feature – for now just as a producer, though that could very well change. The Oscar-winning actress, who is coming off the phenomenal, dangerous-meme-spawning success of Bird Box, is set to be involved in – of all things – a comic book movie, called Reborn, which adapts the Mark Millar/Greg Capullo Image Comics fantasy-action title.
Netflix’s feature adaptation of Reborn will see Bullock onboard as a producer according to Deadline and a confirmation by THR. Roy Lee and Miri Yoon of Vertigo Films, the company behind highest-grossing horror film of all-time (with a sequel on the horizon,) in 2017’s It, will also produce. Interestingly, the report by the former points to the possibility that Bullock – 2010 Best Lead Actress Oscar winner for The Blind Side, nominated in the same category in 2014 for Gravity – could end up starring in the film.
Reborn will be directed by Chris McKay, whose achievements in the animated field reached a recent high with The Lego Batman Movie, with TV show success from Robot Chicken, Titan Maximum and Moral Orel. However, besides this Netflix opportunity, other live-action prospects have been glistening for McKay, who’s being eyed to helm reboot movies for Dungeons & Dragons and Jonny Quest, as well as DC Comics movie spinoff Nightwing. He is also an executive producer on February’s sequel, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.
The story of Reborn – launched by Image in October 2016 – puts an intriguing spin on escapism, centering on an 80-year-old woman, named Bonnie Black, who, upon her death in a Manhattan hospital, wondrously awakens in an afterlife that’s taken the form of a sublime fantasy world called Adystria, filled with magic, dragons and all the trimmings. However, the biggest benefit is that the octogenarian, Bonnie, has been restored to a state of youth, set in the prime of her life. While Bonnie reunites with various friends and loved ones on Adystria, her late husband is the one person she can’t seem to find. Consequently, armed with a sword and the appropriate skills to wield it, Bonnie – joined by her late father – embarks on a tumultuous quest to find her missing significant other.
Mark Millar, who wrote Reborn, and Greg Capullo, who provided the artwork, will both be onboard the Netflix series as executive producers, joined in that capacity by Samantha Nisenboim. Indeed, news of Netflix’s procurement of the Millar-developed series arrives as no surprise since the streaming giant acquired the comic scribe’s Millarworld publishing imprint to not only adapt streaming content but publish comics. Moreover, Netflix revealed a full slate of upcoming Millarworld-based projects last July, signaling some serious comic book content for the near future; comic book content for which it will have ownership, unlike its quickly dwindling slate of Marvel shows.
We will keep you updated on Reborn as the news arrives!
Joseph Baxter is a contributor for Den of Geek and Syfy Wire. You can find his work here. Follow him on Twitter @josbaxter.