Germany's Stallion Film will adapt notorious Japanese manga WICKED CITY into a live-action English-language film, according to VARIETY. SPAWN director Mark Dippe will helm, co-write and co-produce. Hideyuki Kikuchis bestselling manga was adapted into a cult anime film, which introduced demon tentacle sex into the lexicon.
Johnny Hartmann will also co-adapt the story, which tells the tale of demon beasts from a parallel dimension and the secret resistance that fights to prevent the apocalypse.
The $50-$60 million budgeted picture will start production early next year. Stallion partners Oliver Hengst and Elizabeth Wang-Lee with L.A.-based Convergence Ent.'s Tim Kwok will also produce.
L.A.-based Inferno Distribution will handle international sales. Stallion has a first-look arrangement with Inferno, which will fund the film along with Stallion.
Stallion and Hengst have been involved with several German media funds, including IMF, MHF-Academy Film and Intermedia. Hengst is co-founder of Kolosseum Media, which procures film investments and facilitates international co-productions.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
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