What Marvel has done from the USA, they now want to tackle in Europe. A newly founded film studio has secured the rights to numerous comics and is planning a kind of European MCU…
Florent Lamy, who actually works primarily as an agent for Hollywood stars such as Megan Fox or Djimon Hounsou, has now published a plan that he has been working on for three years: He wants to emulate the MCU and create a European comic universe in cinema, streaming and TV. For this he created the company Imagineers Studio and in a first step secured the rights to numerous works by the legendary French comic artist Jean-Yves Mitton.
Described by Lamy as “France’s answer to Stan Lee”, Mitton also worked partly for Marvel on characters such as the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, but above all he published his own works under the pseudonym John Milton: He wrote the series “Micros” about an athlete and a scientist whose bodies merge with insect-like aliens, after which they have superpowers. He also created the figure of the white archer “L’Archer Blanc”, who fends off threats from other universes with his super arrows in a futuristic world. Both belong to the rights that Lamy has now acquired.
Films and series planned in different languages
Lamy speaks of the ambition to create “a French Marvel”, yes actually it should be a European MCU. Because the focus on French titles should only be the beginning, other European characters should also be added bit by bit.
The industry magazine ScreenDaily reveals Lamy that the plan is to “create a shared universe of forgotten French and European superheroes”. A number of films and series are currently being developed – both in French and in English. These are to be shown in the USA as well as in Europe.
For the implementation, it is also the game to get European filmmakers who have already made a career in Hollywood on board to work on special effects, character design, etc. It is not yet known when we can expect a first film or series from this very ambitious undertaking.
The MCU famously began in 2008 with Iron Man. At that time, comic giant Marvel decided that they no longer just wanted to sell the rights to their own characters to Hollywood studios, but wanted to determine for themselves what happened on the big screen. With “Iron Man”, the comic giant financed a film completely itself for the first time – accompanied by a great deal of skepticism. Many doubted that it would be successful, and the decision to start with a character that was relatively unknown to comic fans and the general public at the time was viewed critically.
In the end, “Iron Man” grossed almost $ 586 million and became a mega hit – as did the entire MCU that was founded on it. Marvel was later acquired by Disney and the latest film “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness is currently in cinemas. At the end of its run, it should gross over 900 million dollars in cinemas alone.
