In the last few years, the only live action films Disney has seemed to make are either kids’ flicks or franchise ready action-fantasy films. You can understand why, as they’re both potential goldmines if done well, but Disney is certainly not the studio with the boradest pallette. Now they’ve got another film in the works that’s being seen as a potential summer blockbuster franchise, based around gargoyles.
Zoe Green is in final negotiations to write the film, with X-Men producer Lauren Schuler-Donner onboard to oversee development. However, the project won’t have anything to do with the mid-90s Gargoyles cartoon Disney made, or the later comic book series inspired by it. That is perhaps surprising as it would seem the sort of thing that would do well as a big budget live action film, but the Mouse House was criticised at the time for the darkness of the cartoon, and they also found it more difficult to parlay the series into the sort of merchandising and theme park tie-ins that are normally part and parcel of Disney brands (a big screen version of the series was in development in 1996, but it never got off the ground).
Instead the new film is said to centre around the world and mythology of gargoyles, which Disney is apparently keen to explore. Quite what direction they’re heading in isn’t known, but expect something that’s family friendly and offers the possiblility of a lot of gargoyle fluffy toys.