Theres yet more superhero news hitting the street and this time comic book legend Stan Lee is at the center of it. Lightspeed (working title), a property he created, is heading to the SCI FI channel and Steve Latshaw has been hired to pen the script. Latshaw previously wrote SCI Fis Curse of the Komodo, a telepic that had island inhabitants terrorized by a giant CG lizard.
Lightspeed, to be filmed in live-action with digital effects, is the first of three action movies to be produced by Lee and his POW! Ent. Inc. for the SCI FI Channels 2005-2006 original programming slate. Latshaw was signed to the project by Andrew Stevens of Andrew Stevens Entertainment Group and Jeff Franklin of FWE Inc.
POW! (Purveyors of Wonder) Ent. Inc., founded by CEO Lee, Gill Champion and Arthur Lieberman, is in the business of creating and licensing intellectual property for the entertainment industry, including feature films, television programming, animation projects, video games, merchandising and related entertainment venues. The company, which was acquired by Arturion Ent. last May, is developing an animated TV Christmas special based on the popular new children’s book, Stan Lee’s Superhero Christmas. The book is published by Harper Collins and is now available at all major bookstores and POW! further anticipates the production of a DVD title during the fourth quarter of 2005.
Lee has created such enduring pop culture icons as Spider-Man, The Hulk and X-Men. He and IDT Ent., which owns a minority equity interest in POW!, are developing Stan Lee Presents, a series of six new animated productions for DVD and broadcast.