Ryan Heppe, producer of the upcoming Short Circuit remake, has snared the rights to a little-known Marvel comics property Crash Ryan. Heppe will join forces with writer David Cowper to develop a script, although as yet there are no details on whether a financier has stepped forward to usher it onto the big screen.
Per Variety who dropped the news, Crash Ryan takes place “in an alternate 1935 in a world of super airplanes and giant flying airports. Crash Ryan is a pilot caught up in the battle between the heroic United Airmen and the forces of evil, led by a masked world conqueror who calls himself “the Doom.””
At this early stage, the two scribes have so far penned a 50-page outline. Titled Crash Ryan and the Eyes of Lemuria, it is poised to reinvent the original story as an “earthbound, steampunk-inspired fusion of Indiana Jones and “Star Wars.”” That’s an ambitious pitch to say the least, but it may be enough to lure an investor or two.
Here’s what Heppe had to say on the movie:
It’s an incredible canvas, but what attracted me was the redemption story: a man who can’t save himself being tasked with saving the world.
The Crash Ryan property was created by Ron Harris who wrote, drew and colored the first small-run series that hit shelves in 1984. That storyline stretched for only four issues released under Marvel’s Epic Comics banner, with Harris later reviving the character for another stint at Dark Horse.
In a recent press release, Harris revealed a glut of his influences when creating the series:
‘Crash Ryan’ is the product of a mishmash of influences: my childhood spent on Navy airbases; the old flying movies and Masked Villain serials I loved on latenight TV, and especially my fascination with predictions of future life made in the 1930s.
More news on the Crash Ryan movie as it develops.