The Punisher & Zombieland Will Return.....As A TV Series???

[Mitch Henessey]

I LOVED Zombieland, and I was hoping for a sequel, but it probably won't happen:

"The Walking Dead" is already making waves in Hollywood as studios are clamoring to get their grubby mitts on their own undead franchise.

Fresh off the record-breaking ratings for Sunday's Season 2 premiere of AMC's "The Walking Dead", Fox and Sony Pictures Television are developing a potential half-hour comedy based on the Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson and Emma Stone starrer Zombieland, says both THR and Vulture.

The project would be written by feature scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick and produced through feature distributor Columbia's sibling unit, Sony Pictures Television with an eye on putting the project into development for the 2012-13 broadcast season. The feature film grossed $75.6 million, with a sequel in the works for next year. A potential TV series, Polone told the site, would replace a big-screen follow-up.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/26783

This is a huge letdown for me, because I really enjoyed Zombieland. It was one of the most hilarious horror comedies I've ever seen, and the entire cast was just great. Sony and Fox are excited about the enormous success of The Walking Dead season two, so I can understand the reasons for this, and in a way this does make sense. Still, I would've loved to see another film.

And The Punisher won't make a return to the big screen:

In one of the last big drama deals this buying season, Fox has handed a put pilot commitment to The Punisher, a series based on the Marvel comic from Ed Bernero and ABC Studios. This is one of two high-profile sales for former Criminal Minds showrunner Ed Bernero. He also has high-concept Western spec The Eye set up at ABC.

The Punisher is described as an hour-long procedural with a Marvel signature and a new take on one of the comic book giant’s iconic characters, Frank Castle, a rising star detective with the New York Police Department who moonlights as the vigilante Punisher, seeking justice for those the system has failed. Bernero will executive produce along with Marvel. This marks the first sale this season and the first one ever outside of ABC for Disney-owned Marvel, which is developing TV series based on its properties through ABC Studios. Last season, the company set up Hulk with Guillermo del Toro and David Eick and AKA Jessica Jones with Melissa Rosenberg at ABC. Those projects have been moving on a slower development track at the network. This marks ABC-affiliated ABC Studios’ second high-profile sale to Fox this season, following another put pilot commitment for the Shonda Rimes-produced 1980s dramedy Wildwood. It also is part of Fox’s return to the comic book adaptation business after the recent cancellation of Human Target. In addition to The Punisher, Fox has in the works The Spectre, a drama based on the DC Comics superhero character co-created by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily.

As for Bernero’s other project, The Eye at ABC, it is a Western with a paranormal twist set in 1871 Arizona and centered on a team of Pinkerton Detectives who search for answers to unexplained phenomena. After a long tenure as showrunner of Criminal Minds and its spinoff, UTA-repped Bernero has recently focused on development through his ABC Studios-based Bernero Prods run by Rob Kim. Last year, he created and executive produced the ABC/ABC Studios drama pilot Partners.

http://www.deadline.com/2011/10/fox...tation-from-ed-bernero-marvel-with-put-pilot/

I guess I was one of the very few people who actually liked Punisher: War Zone, but this film was trashed by the critics, and this film was an embarrassment at the box office(http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=punisher2.htm). Although, the premise for this series does sound intriguing, and I will take a chance on this show, when it debuts.

The Punisher is one of the more popular comic book characters, and this show could gather a nice sized fan following. The possibility of another Punisher film didn't bother me, but a TV series could be the right move. War Zone was a box office flop, and this film was panned by the majority of the critics, so a TV series could give The Punisher a fresh start. Also, The Punisher could receive a reboot someday, so another run in theaters might happen.

The Zombieland stuff pisses me off, but I will support the TV series, if it happens. I haven't had a chance to catch the new season of The Walking Dead yet, but zombies and violence always work for me, and I hope they can pick up where the movie left off. Although, I would like to see this potential show have a chance on a network like HBO or Showtime. A show based on Zombieland could have more freedom on these networks, and the show wouldn't have that watered-down feeling. Besides, this could be a better option, because I wouldn't watch a shitty and forgettable straight-to-video sequel.

What are your thoughts?

 

[INDYjon22]

I just heard about this from a friend and I don't really know how to feel. I am not a big Punisher fan, but obviously it works better as a film then a TV show considering how violent the title character is. As for a Zombieland show, well I don't want to see it. Am I the only person sick of zombies? I loved the movie, it was funny and well written, but a TV show won't be nearly as good as the movie. Zombieland 2 should have been the direction taken, alas that is unlikely now. I'd probably watch either shows pilot, but have little interest in them as shows overall.

 

[Theo Mays]

I'll focus on Zombieland here as I loved that movie. I've read that they have enough material for plenty of movies or even a TV show, so this excites me a bit. I would have much rather have a sequel movie as the movie was just awesome. The show will only interest me if they have most of the original cast. That would obviously be difficult and cost quite a bit of money. I'm not sure how much it would work with a new cast, as the movie cast worked so well together. I'll definitely check it out as I'm a big fan of Zombieland and hope it is half as good as the movie.

 

[Dave]

When I started reading this thread, I tried to make a decision about how I felt on this given subject. However, with over 5 minutes of thinking gone by, I still can't come to terms with a feeling about this.

To be honest, I really like Zombieland. It is a movie that I can watch at any time and always be entertained by it's with and style. The plot, whilst being a little unoriginal, adds something new to the zombie-horror genre and that was a great strength of the movie. When you couple that with the great acting talent of Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson, you really did have a great recipe for a movie. Perhaps one of the reasons it did reasonably well.

However, with that being said, the thought of the series extinguishing the idea of a movie really stings me. Zombieland 2 is a movie that I have been looking forward to for a long time and the idea of that now being gone is not a thought that I want to stomach at this point in time.

With none of the cast from the movie expected to be in the series, I really don't know how to place it. It could be that Zombieland: The Series will be entertaining and very funny. But without the original cast of the movie and the idea of the sequel being erased, I don't really know how to feel. I'll wait and see what happens with this before I get too invested in a decision.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

I just heard about this from a friend and I don't really know how to feel. I am not a big Punisher fan, but obviously it works better as a film then a TV show considering how violent the title character is. As for a Zombieland show, well I don't want to see it. Am I the only person sick of zombies? I loved the movie, it was funny and well written, but a TV show won't be nearly as good as the movie. Zombieland 2 should have been the direction taken, alas that is unlikely now. I'd probably watch either shows pilot, but have little interest in them as shows overall.

No. I don't think you are. You know zombies are a hot ticket, when a popular mainstream actor like Brad Pitt decides to star in and produce a film that revolves around a zombie apocalypse premise.

The zombie craze can feel tiresome at times, and besides The Walking Dead, I've lost the desire to watch anything else that's zombie related lately. I still think Zombieland 2 would've been a better option. This film was a box office success, and I'm sure fans of the first film would've returned to theaters to watch a sequel.

I can enjoy The Walking Dead, because this series is dramatic, suspenseful, and some episodes do feature a good amount of action. A zombie comedy TV series could be fun, but everything will feel so strange without Jesse Eisneberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin. They were the faces of that film, and they all did a fantastic job with their characters.

 

[justinsayne]

The Funny thing about Zombieland was that it was originally written and pitch as a tv pilot, & everyone passed on it saying Zombies would never work on a weekly TV series. Columbia Pictures finally said they liked the concept, but not as a TV show, they wanted it re-written as a movie, everyone knows the story from there. With the right cast & the right network backing this, this show cold really work well.

Punisher is perfect for a TV series, however having Frank working as a cop by day, & as Punisher by night it just stupid, & removes a massive piece of what makes Punisher The Punisher. Leave to Fox to take a simple concept and fuck it up.