Deadline brings word that Sony has picked up the rights to the 1983 animated film Fire And Ice with Robert Rodriguez set to adapt it into live action, which he has been developing since 2011. Based on the work of artist Frank Frazetta, whom Rodriguez was friends with before his passing, the project is seen as a potential new franchise for the studio.
“I started developing it independently with Bold Films,” Rodriguez tells the outlet. “The more we started putting it together, we realized it could be something much bigger and it started attracting A-list talent. I thought, ‘Let’s partner with a studio,’ but which would give it the rocket fuel it deserves? I’d heard Mike De Luca was looking for franchises, and I thought this could fit the bill because of the subject matter and the talent that was interested, people who’d seen the presentation I had and wanted to. Turned out Mike was a big Frazetta fan, and the studio was the perfect place. I’d started out with them with El Mariachi, and I had a long relationship with the studio and it seemed like the perfect rocket fuel for this. We’re actively interviewing to hire A-list writers to do another pass to get this going next year. I’m excited.”
The original film was directed by Fritz the Cat and The Lord of the Rings (1978) director Ralph Bakshi from a script by comic writers Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas, it’s described as follows:
“A prehistoric battle of the elements as the dissolute ruler of the Ice World, Nekron, starts a war against the fire people using a massive, advancing glacier and armies of subhuman monsters as his weapons.”
