Beetlejuice 2 Writers Signed To Another Hot Horror Movie
Alfred Gough and Miles Millar have been big names in Hollywood for a while, now, but these two have now become red-hot genre icons. These two created the hit Wednesday series starring Jenna Ortega and also wrote Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the long-awaited Tim Burton sequel that has been a major hit with fans and critics alike. Now, we know what their next big project is: they will be adapting the horror anthology comic Ice Cream Man as a feature film for Screen Gems.
Ice Cream Man
Now, genre fans should rest assured that neither the Ice Cream Man comic nor the upcoming film adaptation has anything to do with the 1995 cult horror classic starring Clint Howard.
Instead, this is the name of a dark comedy horror anthology comic from Image Comics that debuted in 2018. While issues feature very different characters and stories, the common element is the titular Ice Cream Man, a kind of malevolent trickster figure who can alter reality and seemingly lives only to cause pain and misery.
A More Direct Role
Given its format, the Ice Cream Man shares some very similar DNA with horror television shows like Tales From the Crypt and Creepshow, both of which provide anthology episodes anchored by a creepily charismatic host.
However, the Ice Cream Man plays a direct role in these tales, someone not content to watch terror unfold but who wants to help make it happen. That makes him a bit like a cross between modern horror icons like Art the Clown and old-school icons like the Cryptkeeper.
In Hollywood’s Crosshairs For A While
Accordingly, the premise of both the comic and the character seem ready-made for a screen adaptation, which is why Ice Cream Man has received so much Hollywood attention since it was first released.
At one point, UCP (Universal Content Productions) was considering adapting the comic into a TV show. In 2020, it was even going to be adapted for Quibi, the doomed streaming app whose focus was on bite-sized content.
Now, for the first time, Ice Cream Man is being developed as a feature film, and it has some very heavy hitters helping bring it to life. In addition to their more recent successes like Wednesday and the Beetlejuice sequel, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar have worked on some seminal genre fare, including Smallville and Spider-Man 2.
They have literally decades of experience translating beloved comics and characters to the big and small screens, so there is no reason to believe that the flavors they serve up with Ice Cream Man will be anything short of completely delicious.
More News To Come
Beyond the writing team, we don’t have many details regarding the upcoming Ice Cream Man film: we know that it will come to us courtesy of Sony’s Screen Gems, but we don’t yet know who will direct the movie or who its stars will be.
However, given Gough and Millar’s previous track record, we have every reason to believe that adapting this hit comic won’t exactly be a “rocky road.” And once it’s released, this may be a film that horror fans devour completely, right down to the waffle cone.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
