Sony Pictures continues to make inroads in acquiring comic book properties to adapt for the big screen. Following winning the competitive bidding for the rights, Sony Pictures acquired the film rights to AfterShock Comics’ upcoming comic book series The Kaiju Score.
The still unpublished The Kaiju Score from the creative team of writer James Patrick (Grimm Fairy Tales, Death Comes to Dillinger, The Monsters of Jimmy Crumb) and artist Rem Broo (The End Times of Bram and Ben, Terminal Protocol), follows four criminals attempting the perfect heist in the middle of a giant monster attack on the city and has been described by writer James Patrick as “a Quentin Tarantino film taking place in some corner of a Godzilla movie.”
Producing the adaptation will be Escape Artists’ Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, and Steve Tisch alongside Tony Shaw, who brought the property into Sony. Sony Pictures’ Drew Reed and Jake Bauman are described as being “instrumental” in the deal, as was Rive Gauche Television. AfterShock Comics’ Lee Kramer and Jon Kramer will also produce, with Jiao Chen overseeing the project for Sony Pictures. Steve Burkow of Ziffren, Brittenham negotiated on behalf of AfterShock.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, creator Patrick James said about his story being brought to the big screen,
“The truth is that the whole thing has been wonderful and surreal, but I’ve also found myself kind of having not digested it because it happened so fast. I’ve tried to not be excited about it and just focus on my work, but I’ve failed at that. I’m excited. Period. Excited because it will hopefully bring more eyes to the book since it won’t come out until November, excited for people to read the book and see how much more it is than just a good hook, and excited if it brings more attention to my other work and to [co-creator] Rem Broo’s wonderful art and his other books.”
He continued, “Despite the fact that things happened with the publisher and movie deal so fast, this was a book that was developed for a while and it’s nice to see a payoff. And there’s a sense of relief since Rem had committed himself to it so long ago and put in so much work before anything ever came of it. And I can’t communicate enough how excited I am that this is with Sony and Escape Artists. They make great movies and I feel the material is in great hands. I can’t believe how lucky we got.”
Artist Rem Broo added, saying,
“I was talking to a good friend of mine the other day, telling her how fast things are moving with this project and that I fear that this might make me feel anxious and overwhelmed in the end. She replied that after 10 years of intensely overworking myself in the industry, it’s about time for something to move fast in the right direction, so I should lay back and enjoy a bit of success.”
That said, with the comic book series not debuting until November 25, 2020, in comic book stores and digitally.