10-episode live-action series about ‘the nightmares investigator’ now in development, with other projects planned based on publisher’s most popular characters.
Leading Italian comics publisher Sergio Bonelli Editore has launched a film and TV production unit, Bonelli Entertainment, to develop projects based on its original stories and characters, according to a company announcement. The new studio’s first project is a 10-episode live-action horror TV series, in English, based on the widely popular Dylan Dog, “the nightmares investigator.” Other projects will be based on the publisher’s Nathan Never, Mister No, Dampyr, Dragonero, Il Confine and Martin Mystère franchises.
The company is hoping to avoid the creative problems it experienced during the production of 2011’s Dylan Dog: Dead of Night. The independent feature, directed by Kevin Munroe (Ratchet & Clank, TMNT) and starring Brandon Routh (Superman Returns), Anita Briem (Journey to the Center of the Earth) and Sam Huntington (Rosewood), generated a meager $4.6 million worldwide.
Created by Tiziano Sclavi and launched in 1986. Dylan Dog is one of Bonelli’s most popular characters and most widely read comic books in Italy. Set mostly in London, Dylan Dog is a former Scotland Yard agent with a mysterious past, who helps those that the police and public think are crazy, whose problems lie beyond the confines of reality and are in need of an “investigator of nightmares.”
“Developing new ways for people to meet our most popular and iconic characters and franchises as well as exclusive new shows, on the devices they choose, is one of our studio's top priorities," said Davide Bonelli, president of Sergio Bonelli Editore S.p.A. “We are investing in and creating original, high-quality shows including the new Dylan Dog series, and tending our most beloved classic characters, while at the same time elevating our comic books towards new experiences and new heights, with ideas that have never been offered to audiences before.”
Source: Variety and Sergio Bonelli Editore
