Beaks here...
There is going to be a flood of Marvel Studios news coming out of Disney's D23 Expo this weekend, but one title that will evidently not be promoted is director Peter Sollet's adaptation of RUNAWAYS. 'Cuz it's on hold.
Actually, according to RUNAWAYS screenwriter Drew Pearce, damn near everything's on hold at Marvel. The culprit? THE AVENGERS. Here's what Pearce had to say whilst participating in a screenwriting panel at Empire Big Screen '11 (via The Playlist):
Basically, THE AVENGERS came along and everything else at Marvel got put on hold for a year. But the script is there, we’re good go. It’s kind of like [being] at the airport when you’re waiting for your slot to take off with Marvel, and we’re hoping we get a slot next year. Fingers crossed. They’re very happy with it, so hopefully it happens.
Marvel is happy enough with Pearce to have him co-writing IRON MAN 3 with Shane Black, but when it comes to delving into some of the company's lesser-known comic titles, I guess it's wait-and-see time. RUNAWAYS certainly has a compelling concept (teenage superheroes band together to battle their supervillain parents), but we also know the studio is currently prioritizing a DOCTOR STRANGE movie. Maybe they're leery of greenlighting another super-team movie so close to THE AVENGERS. And maybe Kevin Feige will address this at D23 this weekend. I'll be there to find out!
