Existential, Non-Euclidian Horror, or: Locke & Key In Movie Development

Yeah, we fixed it (sort of; give us some more time)… and just in time. Because after a week of writer Joe Hill hinting coyly about it on his Twitter feed, it has just become official: Universal Pictures has optioned Hill’s and artist Gabriel Rodriguez’s Locke & Key comic for development as a movie.

The comic was developed as a television pilot a year or so ago for Fox, who decided not to pick up a series order (although if I recall correctly, the pilot, starring Nick Stahl from Carnivale and Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines was screened to good reaction at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con… which I missed, due to a prior commitment to an alcoholic blackout). It is now under development by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who wrote the 2009 Star Trek reboot (Yay!), as well as the first Michael Bay Transformers movie (Boo!), with an eye toward turning it into a possible trilogy.

A couple of months ago, this news would have meant nothing to me, as I was unfamiliar with the Locke & Key comic until I decided to give the Locke & Key: Grindhouse one-shot a try. After enjoying that single issue, I gave the first trade, Welcome to Lovecraft a shot, and Goddamn, Locke & Key is a good comic book. It’s a horror book that fires on all cylinders, and the first five trade collections have me salivating for the final chapter, Omega, which starts later this month.

I don’t know how they’re gonna present the effects of some of the keys from the comic book – the Head Key could prove problematic, and when it comes to the Gender Key, I guarantee you that every set of half-attractive fraternal twins who ever wanted to be movie stars are poring over the trades – but this is a project I’m looking forward to.

And now, back to this evening’s originally scheduled SQL queries…

(via Comic Book Resources)