EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros is negotiating to close a seven-figure film-rights deal for Avengelyne — Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld’s signature comic book creation about an angel who fights the forces of evil.
Most of the deals are closed. Deadline hears Margot Robbie is eyeing to star as the title character (subject to script), Olivia Wilde will direct, and Poor Things scribe Tony McNamara will write the screenplay. Aboard to produce is LuckyChap, the shingle Robbie runs with Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara, and Simon Kinberg and Audrey Chon through their Genre banner.
This one came to Warner Bros, and the studio pre-empted it. It is the second big deal for the studio in a week. Warner Bros has closed a 7-figure deal to secure a rights package for a movie about Chris Farley that Paul Walter Hauser will star in, with Josh Gad directing. The Avengelyne deal is even bigger.
LuckyChap is coming off Barbie, last year’s top-grossing film with eight Oscar nominations. Wilde last directed Don’t Worry Darling and before that Booksmart.
Deadline revealed this as a hot project April 4.
Avengelyne is an angel who fights the forces of evil and often finds herself face-to-face with demons and monsters. She was the most feared warrior in heaven’s Warhost, having single-handedly broken into Pandemonium, the outer fortress of hell, to confront the devil himself. She is a fallen angel, banished from heaven by God after being tricked into questioning his love for humans. Avengelyne was stripped of all her angelic abilities, other than her great strength and her blood, which, once extracted from her body, could be used as a weapon or a miracle, when it is empowered by quoting verses from the Bible. Avengelyne uses her powers to fight demons on Earth and is being groomed to be humankind’s last hope in a coming Armageddon.
Kinberg has produced the Deadpool films that came from Liefeld’s comics, and that led to the conversation on Avengelyne, which Kinberg brought to Robbie. They brought in Wilde and McNamara; between Deadpool, Barbie, Poor Things and Booksmart, there is an edgy sensibility they hope to capture here. Warner Bros production heads Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy sparked to a title that De Luca actually optioned when he ran production at New Line years ago. Liefeld’s stock is high, as Deadpool & Wolverine looks to be the summer’s big film. Kinberg is exec producer on that one.
In the past, Liefeld has explained his heroine this way: “Avengelyne resonated so powerfully with the audience because her story of redemption is one that is so relatable. A fallen angel, sentenced to redeem herself by serving humanity, Earth is a foreign environment to her, she must adapt in order to save herself as well as mankind. Her dilemma provides humor amidst the larger plot engine driving her journey.”
Verve, CAA and UTA handled the auction. Robbie is repped by CAA, Aran Michael Management and Entertainment 360; Wilde is with CAA, Untitled and Hamilton Hodell; McNamara is with UTA, Sugar23 and HLA Management; and Liefeld is repped by Verve.
‘Avengelyne’ comic book
