Posted in: Comics, Dynamite | Tagged: dynamite, vampirella

Mike The Pike Productions Acquires Vampirella Rights For Movies

Mike The Pike Productions has announced that its subsidiary company Arowana Media Holdings has acquired the worldwide film and television rights to the "Vampirella Universe" from Dynamite Entertainment. Arowana Media Holdings, is a media holdings company that states it has "a focus on transcendent storytelling across film, television, digital media, and other entertainment mediums", and their acquisition includes "stories, characters, and derivative works of the Vampirella universe."

Vampirella will be produced by Mark Newbauer of Mike The Pike, Nick Barrucci and Juan Collado of Dynamite Entertainment. The deal for rights was negotiated by and between Joseph Lanius of Lanius Law & Associates for Mike The Pike Entertainment and John Michael Murray of Behr Abramson Levy with Charles Ferraro of UTA and Ford Lyttle Gilmore of Illuminati Entertainment for Dynamite.

Vampirella was created by Forrest J Ackerman and Trina Robbins as a host for Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics anthology Vampirella #1 in 1969, as a "sexy" vampire dressed in something now known as a "mankini". The narrative hpst for the anthology, she would later get her own stories and background.

Writer-editor Archie Goodwin later developed the character from horror-story hostesses to a horror-drama leading character. The comic was published continuously until 1983, when Warren Publishing folded and its assets were bought by Harris Publications.

Then in 2010, Dynamite Entertainment – who have had a rocky year – acquired the rights to Vampirella from Harris Comics and started a new ongoing series with Vampirella, later rebooted by Nancy Collins. Most recently the series was relaunched by Christopher Priest for the character's 50th anniversary, and two years ago revived the nineties Harris series Vengeance of Vampirella with Thomas Sniegoski.

Vampirella originally hailed from the planet Drakulon, a world where blood flowed like water and where the natives, called the Vampiri, shared traditionally vampiric characteristics. Drakulon orbited a binary star which caused continuous droughts throughout the year. Unfortunately for the Vampiri, these droughts have gradually dried up their blood supply; threatening them with extinction. Vampirella's journey begins when an American space shuttle crashes on Drakulon. Hoping to save her people, she travels to Earth where she begins hunting dark remnants of her own race. Earth's vampires originate from Dracula, a forgotten member of the Vampiri race.

MIKP CEO and Producer Mark Newbauer is quoted by PR stating "We are thrilled with the opportunity to bring this amazing character to screen in a big way. Nick Barrucci, founder and CEO of the prolific Dynamite Comics, is an incredible visionary with an eye for story, and a talent for integration into the zeitgeist. He and everyone at Dynamite have resurrected this character in a significant way over the past decade and this latest run with Priest feels like it's just the beginning of her next 50 years and beyond. We are truly grateful for the faith and support of Dynamite, Nick, and their reps, including producer/manager Ford Gilmore of Illuminati Entertainment. Vampirella has become (and as of 2021 remains) the longest-running English-language vampire comic book of all time, its latest run, helmed by Christopher Priest , is its most successful yet, with more issues sold in its 50th anniversary than any previous year and it continues to gain momentum in popularity as new readers discover Vampirella's timely storyline."

Priest previously stated, when taking over the comic, "Vampirella's supernatural abilities are a metaphor for a universal human condition, for being either rejected or idealized (or, in the case of our series, both) because you are different. Anyone who's ever moved to a new town or a new school or taken a new job should be able to identify with Vampi's challenges. Anyone who wears their hair a different way, listens to a different kind of music, embraces a different religion, anyone who steps outside of or gets shoved outside of the so-called "mainstream" can identify this latest run on Vampirella. I hope it is precisely this universality of theme that helps broaden her audience; the Vampi tent is large enough for everyone."

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