News

In a mid-seven-figure deal, Platinum Studios has hired Sahara scribes Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly to write its upcoming comic book adaptation, Dead Of Night. Budgeted at $35 million, Dead of Night is based on the Italian comic series Dylan Dog and inspired by events in two Dylan Dog graphic novels. Platinum chairman Scott Mitchell Rosenberg is producing; Ervin Rustemagic is executive producing; Aaron Severson and Jay Burns are co-producing. It's not the first time that Platinum has worked with the writing duo. The studio had set up another Dylan Dog project at Dimension Films with Oppenheimer and Donnelly writing. It since has re-acquired the rights.

Gale Anne Hurd and comic book specialists Platinum Studios are joining forces to produce the feature film Atlantis Rising. Platinum also is partnering with Icarus Studios to develop a massively multiplayer online game in tandem with the film. Based on a Platinum Studios graphic novel, Atlantis is a political sci-fi thriller about an underwater kingdom and the surface world coming to the brink of war, with both civilizations hanging in the balance. Atlantis was created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg and written by Scott O. Brown. It belongs to what Platinum calls the same Macroverse, which also includes Cowboys & Aliens, set up at Sony, and Unique, set up at the Walt Disney Co./Touchstone. Hurd is producing for Valhalla, with Rosenberg producing for Platinum. Stephen Tao is the exec for Valhalla with the company's Stephen Emery serving as a co-producer. Aaron Severson and Jay Burns are co-producing for Platinum.