As reported by Deadline, Marvel Studios has commissioned Thomas Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer, writing team behind 2011’s CONAN, to write a Dr. Strange film.
Marvel Studios has hired Conan scribes Thomas Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer to write Dr. Strange, marking forward progress on a long-gestating superhero property which will likely be among the first Marvel films generated under the Disney banner.
If green-lighted further down the chain (and there’s no guarantees there, as Stephen Strange’s possible big-screen adventures have been in development hell for nigh on two decades) this may be one of the first, if not the first, Marvel Studios films produced under the Disney banner.
Why should Dr. Strange fans be excited and/or scared?
Excited because Messrs. Donnelly and Oppenheimer are two very very “IT” genre screenwriters right now, their stars ascendant with not only CONAN looming, but also the forthcoming DYLAN DOG (starring Brandon Routh), and credits on an UNCHARTED film and an early draft of COWBOYS & ALIENS.
Scared because Dr. Strange seems a strange choice (pun intended) for a feature film in this era. Iron Man and Hulk and Thor and Captain America and The Avengers have all the whizzbang action and ‘splosions the folks pony up twelve bucks to see these days. Dr. Strange’s adventures are ethereal and mind-bendingly psychedelic- not exactly typical fare for the target popcorn crowd . However, CG effects and the now-ever-present possibility of 3D make such a film an intriguing film if well-written.
Scared also because the writing team have screenplay credit on SAHARA, one of the worst films of the 21st Century.
