Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

El Zombo Fantasma

1/28/09 – SCI FI Wire reported that Death Ray Films and Maya Entertainment have announced that they're teaming up to bring a film version of the Dark Horse comic book El Zombo Fantasma to the theater.  Created by Kevin Munroe (who is also writing and directing the film) and David Wilkins, the story revolves around El Zombo, a Mexican wrestler (or luchador) who dies mysteriously and finds himself presented with a choice: Become a guardian for tough-as-nails 10-year-old Belisa Montoya in Los Angeles (who isn't at all what she seems) or spend eternity in hell.  "You've seen guardian-angel stories before, but you've never seen one with a 500-pound zombie wrestler," Munroe said. He added: "We created the comic in 2002, and we sold it to Dark Horse, and we've been trying for a long time to find the right people to make it. And then up comes Maya releasing company, and they're really enthusiastic about funding the movie and getting it out there. It felt like it was a really good fit."  In the comic, Belisa is 10, but the press announcement suggests she'll be a teen in the movie.  In addition to the film, the producers are looking at an animated series and some video games, according to Munroe. Perhaps even some direct-to-DVD films, a la Hellboy. And speaking of Hellboy, it seems that will be a big influence on how the film will be shot. Robert Sanchez, who is part of Death Ray, calls this a "Latin Hellboy," and Munroe agrees. "The Hellboy angle is actually a pretty good route to go. To me, this is kind of putting on screen the stuff that is in my head, and Dave Wilkins, the co-creator, ... which actually may fall into that same category with Hellboy. As long as it's believable, I think you can go anywhere."  Munroe added that he's a big fan of wrestling, and a few wrestlers are being considered for roles. "The biggest challenge I find is just what we're going to do with El Zombo. Because there's two ways. One is the guy-in-suit route, which I think is very cool, and I think especially when you think of the work on Hellboy II, like the Wink character, it's insane. And there's also the [pro wrestler] route. ... I'm a huge wrestling fan, and you look at some of the guys in the WWE, like Batista—these guys are, like, huge. ... I think these are some of the best showmen out there."

AlienAlmanac.com 2009