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‘Scott Pilgrim’ Anime Series in the Works From UCP, Netflix
Creator Bryan Lee O'Malley and BenDavid Grabinski will write and executive produce the series.Sex Bob-omb is warming up its guitars for a possible comeback.
Scott Pilgrim, the hit graphic novel series that was adapted into an Edgar Wright vehicle, is once again headed to the screen, this time as an anime series.
Netflix and UCP, the division of Universal Studio Group behind The Umbrella Academy and Chucky, are developing the brand-new adaptation, which does not yet have a series order.
Bryan Lee O’Malley, Pilgrim’s artist-creator, is writing and executive producing with BenDavid Grabinski, the showrunner behind the revival of Are You Afraid of the Dark? at Nickelodeon. The two will showrun the series should it move forward, with anime house Science SARU on tap to provide the animation work. The company’s Eunyoung Choi will serve as producer and Abel Gongora as director on the series.
The band members from the 2010 movie are also on hand for the anime. Wright and producing partner Nira Park will receive exec producer credits along with Marc Platt, Jared LeBoff, and Adam Seigel of Marc Platt Productions, and Michael Bacall.
Part action fantasy, part romantic comedy, Pilgrim centered on the titular slacker and in a garage band named Sex Bob-omb with his friends. His life is turned upside down when he meets Ramona Flowers, an American girl who is recently single. But before their love can blossom, Pilgrim finds himself challenged by his love’s seven previous relationships, and must defeat them in over-the-top fashion.
Six volumes of the series were published by Oni Press between 2004 and 2010, with the graphic novels not just becoming indie comic hits but a publishing phenomenon that broke out into the mainstream, selling millions of copies.
Wright adapted the works — he wrote the script with Bacall and directed — into one movie titled Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, the name of the second volume, that featured Michael Cera as Pilgrim, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Flowers and a cast that included Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Brandon Routh, Jason Schwartzman and Brie Larson, among others. While generating strong reviews, the expensive movie bombed upon release, only to become a cult hit over the ensuing decade.
On one level, bringing the graphic novels to anime form is an acknowledgment of some of the graphic novels’ Japanese roots, as O’Malley’s big influence for his work were various manga, the Japanese comic book form.
Grabinski also wrote and directed the 2021 dark romantic comedy Happily that starred Joel McHale and Kerry Bishe and looked at relationships and the jealousies they engender.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
