You would have thought comic companies might have been put off taking their creations to the stage. For several years Marvel has been planning the Brodway musical Spider-man: Turn Off The Dark, which is already budgeted as the most expensive theatre production ever mounted (it’ll cost $50 million), and is currently in limbo due to problems with financing, with no sight of when the curtain will actually go up.
However Warner Bros and DC Comics aren’t deterred, as THR reports they’ve announced they’re planning a show that’s tentatively called, Batman Live. However, unlike the Spider-man show, which is a traditional musical (with tune by Bono) in a theatre, this will be an elaborate arena show, put together by the companies behind the popular Walking With Dinosaurs and Mamma Mia! touring productions.
Not much is known about the story of the show, although it’ll be aimed at families and kids and will feature numerous villains. That’s probably a good thing as the Walking With Dinosaurs show in particular has made tens of millions by attracting a family crowd to its mix of intricately conceived dinos and sets.
At the moment plans are at a farily early stage, although it’s likely it’ll take to the road in 2011 or 2012. And I think it’s safe to say though that Christian Bale won’t be playing Batman (although has anyone got Adam West’s number, as I’m sure he’d be up for it?).