Frank Miller Closer to Bringing Buck Rogers to Screen

Is Buck Rogers returning to the big screen?

The Spirit is yet to open (and already getting decidedly mixed reviews), but director Frank Miller is already looking at his next film project inspired by comics: Buck Rogers. Miller has been rumored to be circling the project for months.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Miller and Odd Lot Entertainment are close to a deal that will see them re-team to bring a new version of Buck Rogers to film screens. Miller would both write and direct his take on the classic comic strip hero, and has, reportedly, already begun sketching out ideas. As THR reports, “...it's expected to be a darker take, with many of Miller's signature visual elements and themes, such as corruption and redemption.”

The new project may be Miller’s next comic-to-movie project, which would shelve a possible Sin City sequel for a number of years.

Buck Rogers first saw life as a story in the August 1928 issue of Amazing Stories, and debuted as a comic strip in January of 1929 through the work of John F. Dille. The Dille Estate still controls the rights to the character. The character lived on in American culture through comic strips, radio, television and film series.

As Newsarama reported in March, Dynamite Entertainment currently holds the comic book rights to create new Buck Rogers comics (with both Alex Ross and John Cassaday attached for art direction and design), while Hermes Press has announced plans to reprint the entire run of the Buck Rogers newspaper run.