Hey folks, Harry here... Well, looks like Artisan has put together a team for IRON FIST. Now, John Turman is who put together the screenplay, and his HULK script was pretty good... And Ray Park can definitely handle the action, but let's hope he can charismatically carry an entire picture on his shoulders. And as for Kirk Wong, he knows his action, but hasn't really been able to direct anything beyond that so far. This could be a cool cool movie, if it comes together right. The most interesting aspect is that it looks like in the next year or so we'll be seeing GHOST RIDER, IRON FIST, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, X-MEN 2, BLADE: BLOODHUNT and SPIDER-MAN all being released and/or moved into active production. Pretty groovy world eh?
Principal Photography Is Expected To Begin Late 2001/Early 2002 on the Marvel Enterprises’ Character Inspired Film
LOS ANGELES – July 26, 2001 – Artisan Entertainment announced today that action director Kirk Wong is set to develop and direct the feature film version of Marvel Enterprises’ popular comic book icon Iron Fist. Wong, whose directorial credits include The Big Hit, will direct Ray Park (Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace, X-Men) starring as the film’s title character from a script written by John Turman (Buck Rogers, The Incredible Hulk). Principal photography is expected to begin in late 2001 or early 2002 based on remaining casting and pre-production. Iron Fist is the first film to rise out of the Artisan and Marvel Enterprises joint venture to develop, produce and distribute character based programming across all media. The announcement was made by Artisan Executive Vice President, Patrick Gunn.
The martial arts-themed Iron Fist will tell the story of Danny Rand, a westerner, who as a child was raised in a secret temple in the Far East and as an adult returns to the United States to seek revenge on his parents’ murderer. The character has the power to channel his "chi" into his fist and strike with the force of iron. Fittingly, Wong, Park and Turman are all accomplished martial artists.
"We believe that Kirk possesses the experience, vision and abilities to bring Iron Fist to life from the comic book pages to the big screen," said Gunn. "Kirk is the right individual to harness the great screenwriting of John Turman and acting and martial arts prowess of Ray Park. Iron Fist is a great kick off to our plans with Marvel and a great production for Artisan."
Avi Arad, CEO of Marvel Studios and Iron Fist producer added, "This is an exciting time for Marvel as we see Iron First and several of our popular super heroes head to the big screen. Our joint venture with Artisan is a major initiative for the company and we are delighted to see this first project moving forward so aggressively. From the moment we sat down with Kirk, it was a total meeting of the minds. His insight and knowledge is exactly what is needed to launch the Iron Fist film franchise – hopefully to a legacy of several sequels."
Wong’s directorial credits include the cult favorite The Big Hit, featuring Mark Wahlberg in his first action role and Crime Story, starring Jackie Chan. Additionally, Wong has directed numerous action titles in his native Hong Kong including (translated titles) Gunmen, Rock ‘N Roll Cop, The Club, True Colours, Taking Manhattan, and Lifeline Express.
The negotiations were handled on behalf of Artisan by Patrick Gunn along with Erin Austin, the company’s Vice President, Legal & Business Affairs. Wong was represented by United Talent Agency.
With a library of over 4,700 proprietary characters, Marvel Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: MVL) is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies. Marvel's operations are focused in five divisions: entertainment (Marvel Studios), licensing, toys (Toy Biz), comic book publishing and Internet/New Media. Marvel facilitates the creation of entertainment projects, including feature films, television, home video and the Internet, based on its characters and also licenses its characters for use in a wide range of consumer products and services including video and computer games, apparel, collectibles, snack foods and promotions. Marvel's characters and plot lines are created by its comic book division which continues to maintain a leadership position in the U.S. and worldwide while also serving as an invaluable source of intellectual property. For additional information visit the Marvel Web site at Marvel.Com.
Artisan Entertainment Inc. is a leading independent entertainment company that distributes motion pictures in all domestic markets including the theatrical, home entertainment and television arenas. Artisan Home Entertainment has an extensive library of over 6,700 titles and top catalog product including Terminator II, Dirty Dancing, The Blair Witch Project, It’s a Wonderful Life and The Piano and its own family entertainment unit, FHE, distributes video and DVD products for such brands as The Baby Einstein Company, Discovery Networks and Hallmark Home Entertainment and Clifford the Big Red Dog.
On the theatrical side, Artisan Pictures, a producer and distributor of theatrical product, draws top talent and major acquisition and distribution partners to release such films as The Blair Witch Project, Requiem for a Dream, Dr. T & The Women and Stir of Echoes. The company has a joint venture with Marvel Enterprises to develop, produce and distribute character-based programming across multimedia outlets. Artisan maintains theatrical output agreements with various distribution partners including Showtime Networks, for domestic pay television as well as international territories including Alliance Atlantis in Canada, Momentum Pictures in the U.K., Highlight Communications in Germany and Lauren Films in Spain. Artisan’s product is sold in other international territories through Summit Entertainment.
