Although this one needs to be filed in the rumour drawer for now, Pajiba is reporting that Sam Worthington is attached to a movie based on the Dan Dare: Pilot Of The Future comics. Although it may seem a little surprising a film is in the works of a comic that’s little known in the States, the character, who first appeared in the 1950s, was bought by Virgin Comics a few years ago with an eye to relaunch him first on the page before bringing him to the big screen.
And with most of the world famous comic characters already having their own film series, Hollywood is looking around for who else might make a good franchise.
When he first appeared, Dan Dare was a typical patriotic British hero, who spoke like he’d just stepped out of a 1940s war movie. At that point, the future he was piloting around in was the 1990s. Although those times have been and gone and we’re still stuck on Earth, Dare was busy zooming around the solar system, fighting off evil, including the dastardly Mekon. In recent years, as with many comics, the series has taken on a slightly darker tone, with the world in disarray and Dare trying to sort things out.
Warner now has the rights to characters and they’re looking for a writer and director to guide it to the screen.
Worthington would seem a decent choice as he’s certainly got the right look for Dan Dare. That said, while he’s had hits with Terminator: Salvation and Avatar, he’s yet to appear in a movie that really relied on him being the main draw. Dan Dare would give him his own franchise, something he lacks at the moment. However, as Worthington was also rumoured for Flash Gordon a few weeks ago and his name seems to come up in regards to virtually every new film, we’ll have to wait for confirmation before we believe he really is going to be Dan Dare.