Older witchblade news

Platinum Studios
Image via Wikipedia
Old news :
A whole bunch of Witchcraft comics
http://comics.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?cPath=5375_5425
More recent Witchblade news :
There hasn’t been any news lately about Witchblade. The last we heard, “Queen of the Damned” director Michael Rymer was attached and that news was a little over a year ago. Financing has already been established, the only thing that needs to be done is the script. During a recent sit down with President of Top Cow Entertainment Matt Hawkins, MTV got a opportunity to talk about the upcoming CBM Witchblade.
“We sat down with a couple of guys, [co-producer] Platinum Studios and Marc Silvestri and I, and we banged out a three-page document that says here’s the basic story idea we want to do, it’s sort of a balancing act—it’s very different from the book, but thematically, it’s very much the same.”
“We always say you don’t want to stay ridiculously faithful to the comic, but at the same time, if you make it so radically different, what’s the point?”
Hawkins explained the idea behind the latest creation of Witchblade would be similar to another Top Cow series, “Wanted”.
Hawkins also made it a point that Witchblade would be a film lead by a female hero. “When you do a female-lead film that’s successful, they always turn it around and they say it was the effects. People in Hollywood… When you talk to people about something like ‘Underworld,’ it’s always the werewolf/vampire thing and it’s not Kate Beckinsale. … It’s not that they always think a female lead film is going to fail, but… I don’t know. It’s just one of those things.”
The Top Cow president also said that if production doesn’t start in the next year, they could lose their funding and have to start over. Hawkins isn’t sweating the deadline because he would rather spend time developing the project to get it right than speed up production and have a “piece of crap”. “If we’re going to do it, it’s got to be good.”
Sounds like they have the right idea for the upcoming CBM and I hope they find a writer for the script soon or we could be looking at another set back for Witchblade.
Witchblade movie news :
We were tipped off this morning that the feature film adaptation of the popular ’90s comic book Witchblade will be directed by Michael Rymer (Battlestar Gallactica, Queen of the Damned) from a screenplay by Everett De Roche. Coming in 2009 is the live action adaption of the best selling graphic novel franchise, WITCHBLADE, the legend of an ancient and mysterious weapon and the female warrior destined to wield it awesome power. Read on for more details on the franchise.
Launched in 1995, WITCHBLADE is a comic book series created by TOP COW Productions. Since its inception, Witchblade has sold over a hundred million units worldwide and been translated into over 25 languages to become the phenomenon with cross-over mainstream success.
The Witchblade is a supernatural artifact, a symbiotic, sentient weapon than can bond only with a woman. Wielded by the right warrior, it becomes a terrifying tool in the eternal battle of Good against Evil. Possessing great destructive and protective powers, the Witchblade itself is neutral in this great struggle, with the potential to harm the innocent and aid the guilty. It is the duty of the bearer to control the weapon and ensure it’s power is controlled and used properly. When dormant, the Witchblade can appear a simple bracelet, but when activated it is alive, transforming into armor, swords, whips, spears, chains and spikes, all under the control of the bearer. An experienced user, one who has embraced the power and responsibility of the weapon and bonded with it completely, can use it to fly, to shoot great blasts of pure energy, and even heal mortal wounds.
Many Champions have borne the Witchblade through the ages, from Samurai to Crusaders, Amazons to soldiers on the modern battlefield. Queens, princesses, generals and peace-keepers have all used this enigmatic relic in their fight to protect us from the Evil forces that threaten to devour our world. And, in 2009, a new warrior will step up and embrace her destiny as the chosen one, the pivotal character in the only war worth fighting.
Witchblade Movie Announced
Arclight Films, Platinum Studios, Inc. and Top Cow Productions partnering for the production.
LOS ANGELES, May 13, 2008 – Platinum Studios, Inc. (OTCBB: PDOS), an entertainment company that controls an international library of more than 5,600 comic book characters which it adapts, produces and licenses for all forms of media, in conjunction with Top Cow Productions, Inc., an entertainment and publishing company specializing in building intellectual properties through comic-book and graphic-novel publication, and Arclight Films, one of the leading international film sales companies, today announced a deal to co-produce a feature film based on the action fantasy thriller Witchblade. The best-selling comic book franchise created by Top Cow has sold over 100 million units worldwide since its #1 debut in 1995.
It is anticipated that the film would be shot on location in Australia. The exact story line and nature of the script is being kept under wraps, but will stay true to the Witchblade mythology, which centers around a deadly ornate gauntlet that gives superpowers to the wearer, a chosen female bearer of each generation, who possesses it.
“Witchblade is one of the premier comic-book titles in the world,” said Gary Hamilton, CEO of Arclight. “This property is the cornerstone of our upcoming production and sales slate and we hope to be able to start production in September 2008.”
Hamilton, Nigel Odell, head of Arclight’s production operations, Platinum Studios’ CEO Scott Mitchell Rosenberg and Steve Squillante of Havenwood Media are all set to produce. Top Cow’s CEO Marc Silvestri and President Matt Hawkins would serve as executive producers as would Platinum Studios’ Rich Marincic. Former Universal Pictures senior executive Randy Greenberg of the Greenberg Group, who helped negotiate the deal with Platinum Studios General Counsel, Helene Pretsky, would also executive produce. Hawkins and attorney Harris Miller negotiated on behalf of Top Cow.
“In my opinion, Witchblade is one of the finest comic-book properties yet to be made into a full-length feature film,” said Platinum Studios’ Rosenberg. “’I believe that Witchblade’s fantastic origin, intriguing mystery and wonderful story should satisfy the core audience while giving all moviegoers an amazing ride.”
“We have been looking for the right opportunity to bring Witchblade to the big screen,” said Marc Silvestri, CEO of Top Cow. “We are fortunate to have production partners who value the story and the characters so much and have a shared vision.”
The Witchblade’ comic book has been published in more than 21 languages and distributed in over 55 countries. The notable success of the comic book led to the highly rated made-for-TV movie in 2000, which spawned a weekly series that ran for two seasons on TNT. The property has been licensed all over the world in action figures, magnets, trading cards, posters, lithographs, skateboards, collectible masks, lunch pails, role playing games, collectible Halloween masks, soundtracks, novelizations, die cast cars, Digital DVD comics, statues, Christmas ornaments and multiple toy lines.
Most recently, Witchblade was licensed in Japan to Gonzo Digimation Holding and made into an anime TV show by Studio GONZO. The first season’s 26 original produced half-hour episodes ran on terrestrial television to rave reviews and ratings — of the 97 different Anime series on the air in 2006, Witchblade was #17 — and it was the highest anime debut of an American property ever. Late last year, FUNimation released the Japanese anime to the DVD market in the U.S. and it became the #1 Amine DVD debut of 2007. Witchblade is also the first American property to be fully adapted in Japan as an original anime and manga.
Platinum Studios’s film and TV division has various other properties in development at major film studios, including “Atlantis Rising” at DreamWorks and Kurtzman/Orci (“Transformers”) set to produce “Cowboys and Aliens” again at DreamWorks with Kurtzman/Orci partnering with Universal Pictures partnering with Imagine Entertainment, and “Unique” at Walt Disney Pictures. Platinum Studio has also recently announced its partnering with Hyde Park Entertainment to co-produce “Dead of Night,” based on the beloved Italian comic book series, Dylan Dog.
Top Cow’s TV series Witchblade, which was TNT’s #1 original show of 2000, is set to have the 2001-2002 episodes released on DVD on July 29, 2008. Top Cow’s The Darkness, was developed into a major next-generation video game release by Starbreeze and 2K Games and achieved platinum sales status. Additionally, Top Cow has turned Wanted, the best-selling Eisner Award-nominated miniseries and graphic novel published by Top Cow and written by comics superstar Mark Millar, into a major motion picture that is being released wide on June 27, 2008 by Universal Pictures. The film stars Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy, and Morgan Freeman and is directed by Timur Bekmambetov.
Some old Witchblade news :
August 23, 2000. I have great news for all Withblade fans! On August 27th, TNT will be airing The Witchblade movie!!!!! Times will be according to local areas and subscriptions, of course. It will be repeated at least on four different dates. So stay tuned and enjoy the show!!
——————————————————————————–
August 3rd. I was misinformed on an earlier statement. The Witchblade series has not been slated for this fall. It has been slated for sometime in 1999. Here is the exact wordage from TNT: “There is no casting info yet on “Witchblade” but Oliver Stone is executive producing and it’s slated for air sometime in 1999 on TNT.” “Witchblade,” due to premiere as a two-hour movie in early 1999, is described as an action-adventure hour about a New York detective who comes into contact with an ancient weapon that heals and gives power.
Also, Top Cow had this news release:November 6, 1997 from the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER WBDTD flashes a ‘Witchblade’ Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution has ordered 22 episodes of the planned one-hour action syndicated series “Witchblade” from Oliver Stone’s Illusion Entertainment, according to sources. The weekly will be based on the top-selling “Witchblade” comic book series, which sells 200,000 copies a month. Warner Bros. is planning to shoot the series in Toronto for a fall 1998 debut. Gregg Maday, senior vp of Warner Bros. Television, will oversee development of the project, which was packaged by the Creative Artists Agency. The weekly will be themed around the central character of “Witchblade,” Sara Pezzini, a NYPD homicide detective. She acquires the “witchblade,” a gauntlet that empowers the wearer with supernatural strengths and abilities. One of the executive producers of the series is Marc Silvestri, founder and CEO of Top Cow Comics, which publishes the “Witchblade” series. Brad Foxhoven, president of Top Cow Comics, will produce with “Witchblade” writer David Wohl. The series has been hotly anticipated by stations since word emerged that the comic character was being developed as a TV series (HR 4/24). None of the parties involved in the project would comment. Top Cow is represented by the William Morris Agency. Initial reaction from station representatives to the planned series was positive. “Marquee value always helps, and when you put a major movie director and producer with the project, it certainly gets your attention,” said Bill Carroll, vp, director of programming at Katz Television. Commenting on the state of the one-hour action market, Dick Kurlander, vp, director of programming at Petry Television, said,” There continues to be a lot more hours than the market can support. But clearly not all of the (16) hours (on air) will be renewed. Certainly, bringing an established movie name to a project is very helpful.” Numerous one-hour strips are elbow-to-elbow in the syndication market, including such top off-network blue chips as “The X-Files,” “NYPD Blue,” and “Walker, Texas Ranger.” First-run hours such as “Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict” and “Night Man” from Tribune Entertainment, “Pensacola: Wings of Gold” from Eyemark Entertainment, the comedy “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” from Buena Vista Television and WBDTD’s “Police Academy” are also notching good ratings. Action-film producer Jerry Bruckheimer also has a top-rated hour in syndication, “Soldier of Fortune, Inc.” from Rysher Entertainment. Helping drive the economics for one-hour action shows in syndication is a thriving international market. One recent estimate indicated that as much as 70% of overall income for one-hour syndication programming comes from international. Just a few years ago, the ratio between international and domestic was nearer 50-50. Top feature names, such as Bruckheimer and David Kirschner (executive producer of “Final Conflict”), are attracted to syndication because syndie deals involve a commitment for at least 22 episodes. And unlike network productions, they are allowed almost complete creative control.
——————————————————————————–
July 27th.- Found a great pic for all you Carmen Electra fans….Its Carmen as Sara!!
Also I have found the date and time for the Witchblade series. It will be on TNT, Wedsnday at 8pm. This fall!
——————————————————————————–
July 24th.- There is a Witchblade soundtrack to the comic! It should be out sometime this fall. There are various rock and alternative groups on it. Click here for a look at the new cd!
——————————————————————————–
July 20th.- This is the first of many news updates I will personally find and update. The first thing to say is that we finally have conformation that Witchblade will be a syndicated television series on TNT. It is said to be in the style of the hit show “NYPD Blue”, with the Witchblade element adding a fantasy style to it. I have yet to find the exact date for airing. I will find out though!
Secondly, I have heard rumors of a Witchblade game, being produced for the Playstation. It is said to be in the likeness of the very popular game “Tomb Raider”. Rumor has it that Edios, will be developing the game.

Old news :

A whole bunch of Witchcraft comics

http://comics.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?cPath=5375_5425

More recent Witchblade news :
There hasn’t been any news lately about Witchblade. The last we heard, “Queen of the Damned” director Michael Rymer was attached and that news was a little over a year ago. Financing has already been established, the only thing that needs to be done is the script. During a recent sit down with President of Top Cow Entertainment Matt Hawkins, MTV got a opportunity to talk about the upcoming CBM Witchblade. “We sat down with a couple of guys, [co-producer] Platinum Studios and Marc Silvestri and I, and we banged out a three-page document that says here’s the basic story idea we want to do, it’s sort of a balancing act—it’s very different from the book, but thematically, it’s very much the same.”
“We always say you don’t want to stay ridiculously faithful to the comic, but at the same time, if you make it so radically different, what’s the point?”
Hawkins explained the idea behind the latest creation of Witchblade would be similar to another Top Cow series, “Wanted”.
Hawkins also made it a point that Witchblade would be a film lead by a female hero. “When you do a female-lead film that’s successful, they always turn it around and they say it was the effects. People in Hollywood… When you talk to people about something like ‘Underworld,’ it’s always the werewolf/vampire thing and it’s not Kate Beckinsale. … It’s not that they always think a female lead film is going to fail, but… I don’t know. It’s just one of those things.”
The Top Cow president also said that if production doesn’t start in the next year, they could lose their funding and have to start over. Hawkins isn’t sweating the deadline because he would rather spend time developing the project to get it right than speed up production and have a “piece of crap”. “If we’re going to do it, it’s got to be good.”
Sounds like they have the right idea for the upcoming CBM and I hope they find a writer for the script soon or we could be looking at another set back for Witchblade.

Witchblade movie news :
We were tipped off this morning that the feature film adaptation of the popular ’90s comic book Witchblade will be directed by Michael Rymer (Battlestar Gallactica, Queen of the Damned) from a screenplay by Everett De Roche. Coming in 2009 is the live action adaption of the best selling graphic novel franchise, WITCHBLADE, the legend of an ancient and mysterious weapon and the female warrior destined to wield it awesome power. Read on for more details on the franchise.
Launched in 1995, WITCHBLADE is a comic book series created by TOP COW Productions. Since its inception, Witchblade has sold over a hundred million units worldwide and been translated into over 25 languages to become the phenomenon with cross-over mainstream success.
The Witchblade is a supernatural artifact, a symbiotic, sentient weapon than can bond only with a woman. Wielded by the right warrior, it becomes a terrifying tool in the eternal battle of Good against Evil. Possessing great destructive and protective powers, the Witchblade itself is neutral in this great struggle, with the potential to harm the innocent and aid the guilty. It is the duty of the bearer to control the weapon and ensure it’s power is controlled and used properly. When dormant, the Witchblade can appear a simple bracelet, but when activated it is alive, transforming into armor, swords, whips, spears, chains and spikes, all under the control of the bearer. An experienced user, one who has embraced the power and responsibility of the weapon and bonded with it completely, can use it to fly, to shoot great blasts of pure energy, and even heal mortal wounds.
Many Champions have borne the Witchblade through the ages, from Samurai to Crusaders, Amazons to soldiers on the modern battlefield. Queens, princesses, generals and peace-keepers have all used this enigmatic relic in their fight to protect us from the Evil forces that threaten to devour our world. And, in 2009, a new warrior will step up and embrace her destiny as the chosen one, the pivotal character in the only war worth fighting.

Witchblade Movie Announced

Arclight Films, Platinum Studios, Inc. and Top Cow Productions partnering for the production.LOS ANGELES, May 13, 2008 – Platinum Studios, Inc. (OTCBB: PDOS), an entertainment company that controls an international library of more than 5,600 comic book characters which it adapts, produces and licenses for all forms of media, in conjunction with Top Cow Productions, Inc., an entertainment and publishing company specializing in building intellectual properties through comic-book and graphic-novel publication, and Arclight Films, one of the leading international film sales companies, today announced a deal to co-produce a feature film based on the action fantasy thriller Witchblade. The best-selling comic book franchise created by Top Cow has sold over 100 million units worldwide since its #1 debut in 1995.
It is anticipated that the film would be shot on location in Australia. The exact story line and nature of the script is being kept under wraps, but will stay true to the Witchblade mythology, which centers around a deadly ornate gauntlet that gives superpowers to the wearer, a chosen female bearer of each generation, who possesses it.
“Witchblade is one of the premier comic-book titles in the world,” said Gary Hamilton, CEO of Arclight. “This property is the cornerstone of our upcoming production and sales slate and we hope to be able to start production in September 2008.”
Hamilton, Nigel Odell, head of Arclight’s production operations, Platinum Studios’ CEO Scott Mitchell Rosenberg and Steve Squillante of Havenwood Media are all set to produce. Top Cow’s CEO Marc Silvestri and President Matt Hawkins would serve as executive producers as would Platinum Studios’ Rich Marincic. Former Universal Pictures senior executive Randy Greenberg of the Greenberg Group, who helped negotiate the deal with Platinum Studios General Counsel, Helene Pretsky, would also executive produce. Hawkins and attorney Harris Miller negotiated on behalf of Top Cow.
“In my opinion, Witchblade is one of the finest comic-book properties yet to be made into a full-length feature film,” said Platinum Studios’ Rosenberg. “’I believe that Witchblade’s fantastic origin, intriguing mystery and wonderful story should satisfy the core audience while giving all moviegoers an amazing ride.”
“We have been looking for the right opportunity to bring Witchblade to the big screen,” said Marc Silvestri, CEO of Top Cow. “We are fortunate to have production partners who value the story and the characters so much and have a shared vision.”
The Witchblade’ comic book has been published in more than 21 languages and distributed in over 55 countries. The notable success of the comic book led to the highly rated made-for-TV movie in 2000, which spawned a weekly series that ran for two seasons on TNT. The property has been licensed all over the world in action figures, magnets, trading cards, posters, lithographs, skateboards, collectible masks, lunch pails, role playing games, collectible Halloween masks, soundtracks, novelizations, die cast cars, Digital DVD comics, statues, Christmas ornaments and multiple toy lines.
Most recently, Witchblade was licensed in Japan to Gonzo Digimation Holding and made into an anime TV show by Studio GONZO. The first season’s 26 original produced half-hour episodes ran on terrestrial television to rave reviews and ratings — of the 97 different Anime series on the air in 2006, Witchblade was #17 — and it was the highest anime debut of an American property ever. Late last year, FUNimation released the Japanese anime to the DVD market in the U.S. and it became the #1 Amine DVD debut of 2007. Witchblade is also the first American property to be fully adapted in Japan as an original anime and manga.
Platinum Studios’s film and TV division has various other properties in development at major film studios, including “Atlantis Rising” at DreamWorks and Kurtzman/Orci (“Transformers”) set to produce “Cowboys and Aliens” again at DreamWorks with Kurtzman/Orci partnering with Universal Pictures partnering with Imagine Entertainment, and “Unique” at Walt Disney Pictures. Platinum Studio has also recently announced its partnering with Hyde Park Entertainment to co-produce “Dead of Night,” based on the beloved Italian comic book series, Dylan Dog.
Top Cow’s TV series Witchblade, which was TNT’s #1 original show of 2000, is set to have the 2001-2002 episodes released on DVD on July 29, 2008. Top Cow’s The Darkness, was developed into a major next-generation video game release by Starbreeze and 2K Games and achieved platinum sales status. Additionally, Top Cow has turned Wanted, the best-selling Eisner Award-nominated miniseries and graphic novel published by Top Cow and written by comics superstar Mark Millar, into a major motion picture that is being released wide on June 27, 2008 by Universal Pictures. The film stars Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy, and Morgan Freeman and is directed by Timur Bekmambetov.

Some old Witchblade news :
August 23, 2000. I have great news for all Withblade fans! On August 27th, TNT will be airing The Witchblade movie!!!!! Times will be according to local areas and subscriptions, of course. It will be repeated at least on four different dates. So stay tuned and enjoy the show!!

——————————————————————————–
August 3rd. I was misinformed on an earlier statement. The Witchblade series has not been slated for this fall. It has been slated for sometime in 1999. Here is the exact wordage from TNT: “There is no casting info yet on “Witchblade” but Oliver Stone is executive producing and it’s slated for air sometime in 1999 on TNT.” “Witchblade,” due to premiere as a two-hour movie in early 1999, is described as an action-adventure hour about a New York detective who comes into contact with an ancient weapon that heals and gives power.
Also, Top Cow had this news release:November 6, 1997 from the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER WBDTD flashes a ‘Witchblade’ Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution has ordered 22 episodes of the planned one-hour action syndicated series “Witchblade” from Oliver Stone’s Illusion Entertainment, according to sources. The weekly will be based on the top-selling “Witchblade” comic book series, which sells 200,000 copies a month. Warner Bros. is planning to shoot the series in Toronto for a fall 1998 debut. Gregg Maday, senior vp of Warner Bros. Television, will oversee development of the project, which was packaged by the Creative Artists Agency. The weekly will be themed around the central character of “Witchblade,” Sara Pezzini, a NYPD homicide detective. She acquires the “witchblade,” a gauntlet that empowers the wearer with supernatural strengths and abilities. One of the executive producers of the series is Marc Silvestri, founder and CEO of Top Cow Comics, which publishes the “Witchblade” series. Brad Foxhoven, president of Top Cow Comics, will produce with “Witchblade” writer David Wohl. The series has been hotly anticipated by stations since word emerged that the comic character was being developed as a TV series (HR 4/24). None of the parties involved in the project would comment. Top Cow is represented by the William Morris Agency. Initial reaction from station representatives to the planned series was positive. “Marquee value always helps, and when you put a major movie director and producer with the project, it certainly gets your attention,” said Bill Carroll, vp, director of programming at Katz Television. Commenting on the state of the one-hour action market, Dick Kurlander, vp, director of programming at Petry Television, said,” There continues to be a lot more hours than the market can support. But clearly not all of the (16) hours (on air) will be renewed. Certainly, bringing an established movie name to a project is very helpful.” Numerous one-hour strips are elbow-to-elbow in the syndication market, including such top off-network blue chips as “The X-Files,” “NYPD Blue,” and “Walker, Texas Ranger.” First-run hours such as “Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict” and “Night Man” from Tribune Entertainment, “Pensacola: Wings of Gold” from Eyemark Entertainment, the comedy “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” from Buena Vista Television and WBDTD’s “Police Academy” are also notching good ratings. Action-film producer Jerry Bruckheimer also has a top-rated hour in syndication, “Soldier of Fortune, Inc.” from Rysher Entertainment. Helping drive the economics for one-hour action shows in syndication is a thriving international market. One recent estimate indicated that as much as 70% of overall income for one-hour syndication programming comes from international. Just a few years ago, the ratio between international and domestic was nearer 50-50. Top feature names, such as Bruckheimer and David Kirschner (executive producer of “Final Conflict”), are attracted to syndication because syndie deals involve a commitment for at least 22 episodes. And unlike network productions, they are allowed almost complete creative control.

——————————————————————————–
July 27th.- Found a great pic for all you Carmen Electra fans….Its Carmen as Sara!! Also I have found the date and time for the Witchblade series. It will be on TNT, Wedsnday at 8pm. This fall!

——————————————————————————–

July 24th.- There is a Witchblade soundtrack to the comic! It should be out sometime this fall. There are various rock and alternative groups on it. Click here for a look at the new cd!

——————————————————————————–

July 20th.- This is the first of many news updates I will personally find and update. The first thing to say is that we finally have conformation that Witchblade will be a syndicated television series on TNT. It is said to be in the style of the hit show “NYPD Blue”, with the Witchblade element adding a fantasy style to it. I have yet to find the exact date for airing. I will find out though!
Secondly, I have heard rumors of a Witchblade game, being produced for the Playstation. It is said to be in the likeness of the very popular game “Tomb Raider”. Rumor has it that Edios, will be developing the game.

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