#Godzilla Vs. Kong Director Takes on Hardcore from The Walking Dead Creator

Hot off the success of the hit monster crossover movie Godzilla vs. Kong, filmmaker Adam Wingard has just scored another big movie project. Wingard has signed on with Universal Pictures to direct Hardcore, a movie based on the comic book series from the same name from Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead, Invincilble) and Marc Silvestri.

In addition to directing, Adam Wingard will co-write the screenplay with Will Simmon (Sleepy Hollow, Internal Affairs) based on an outline by Kirkman. The original comic book series, from Skybound and Image Comics, published its first issue in 2018. It is the latest comic book creation from Kirkman to be adapted for the screen, following the long-running zombie drama The Walking Dead on AMC and the recent premiere of the new animated series Invincible on Amazon.

The official logline for the Hardcore comic book reads: “Imagine being able to take over the body of anyone on Earth. Sound crazy? Not for Agent Drake and the Hardcore Program. They can turn any person into a human drone to get to targets that normal soldiers can’t. Drake is the best soldier Hardcore has to offer. But when he gets stranded in a body with only 72 hours to discover who’s hijacked the Program, he’ll have to pull out all the stops against an enemy who could be literally anyone.”

Wingard, whose body of work includes You’re Next, Blair Witch, and Death Note, debuted his latest movie this year when Godzilla Vs Kong premiered in March. Because it was a big hit, it’s possible that Wingard might direct more movies set in the MonsterVerse in the future, and there are rumors that he’s in talks with Legendary to do just that. Before the release of Godzilla vs. Kong, Wingard also told Collider that a sequel really depended on if fans wanted to see more.

“I’d love it to be the birth of something new, but I guess it just depends on just how the movie’s received,” Wingard explained. “All those kinds of things are out of my hands, but like I know where we could go potentially with future films, but to a certain degree, like the monster verse was kind of created with the idea in mind that there was going to be always a… You know, these films were leading towards Godzilla vs. Kong, and so I’m kind of lucky in the sense that I was able to step in and be the guy to get the chance to do the ultimate version of these movies.”

Meanwhile, Wingard has multiple other high-profile projects in the works. He is attached to direct a sequel to the Face/Off, the John Woo action-thriller with Nicolas Cage and John Travolta that was released in 1997. He has also been tapped to direct a ThunderCats movie adaptation for Warner Bros., another project that’s generated tons of excitement with fans.

No release date has yet been set for Hardcore. Skybuond and Wingard’s Montauk Chair are producing the feature, and Robert Kirkman, David Alpert, Bryan Furst, and Sean Furst will also produce for Skybound. Additionally, Wingard is executive producing, and Universal Pictures’ EVP of Production, Matt Reilly, will oversee for the studio. This news comes to us from The Hollywood Reporter.

Topics: Hardcore