Well, since the initial announcement that 20th Century Fox were working on a Silver Surfer film, there has been absolutely zero new developments worth writing about. Except, perhaps, until now.

CHUD recently reported that Marvel Studios is actively offering writers and directors their pick of characters to be brought to the big-screen as small scale movies in the range of 20 to 40 million dollars. While Silver Surfer isn’t mentioned, other characters such as Dr. Strange, Ka-Zar, Luke Cage, Dazzler and Power Pack were.

The idea is that Marvel want to be able to produce many super-hero films but with less financial risk, allowing Marvel (and Disney) to explore new ways of getting their brand into the market.

Marvel President Kevin Fiege also confirmed to Movieweb recently that the intention is to release two Marvel superhero movies every year.

Says Fiege:

“…certainly we are looking at the next wave. We are going to do two films a year starting in 2011. What is our post Avengers film in 2013 or 2014? There are a lot of characters and meetings going on right now.”

The indication that many smaller movies will be made at 20-40 million seems to apply to third tier Marvel characters. Is Silver Surfer considered a third tier character? My obviously biased answer is “no” especially in context with Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer raking in more than $150M above its budget. I would hope that the powers that be don’t slot it in as a second or third tier character as a 20-40 million Silver Surfer film simply wouldn’t work for this particular character.

So where are we at with the Silver Surfer film? Who knows. The only “hint” that anything might be happening was a slight update one month ago to the IMDB status for the film. I say “slight” because the update was merely a second reiteration that the film is “In active development at Fox.”

Back in September it was reported that the estate of Jack Kirby had issued termination of copyright notices to Marvel, Disney and any studio that produces films based on characters created or co-created by the late Jacob Kurtzberg (Jack Kirby). The characters impacted by the termination notices include the iconic Captain America, the X-Men, Hulk, and of course, the Silver Surfer.

The basic purpose of the Kirby lawsuit was to place the Kirby Estate in a position to be able to negotiate with Marvel over their terms to continue publishing comics based on Kirby’s work which, in turn, would extend into Marvel/Disney’s use of those properties in film.

If the Kirby Estate’s claims are found valid, word is they would regain their copyright ownership to those characters in 2014. Obviously this wouldn’t have an impact on the current Silver Surfer movie, but it could impact future movies if the film’s were to evolve into a franchise (and let’s hope they do!). It doesn’t mean they wouldn’t get made, it simply means Kirby’s Estate would be in a position to influence their development and, obviously, reap more financial reward from them, something the studios don’t want as an additional financial burden.

It’s taken a few months, but today Marvel formally announced that they’ve lodged their own lawsuit to counter the Kirby Estate’s claims. You can read the entire lawsuit after the jump, but in a nutshell they are seeking, as would have been expected, to obtain judicial approval that the notices of termination are invalid.

Read more…

Jack Kirby's Silver Surfer (click to enlarge)

Jacob Kurtzberg (August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994), aka Jack Kirby, created or co-created many of the most well known Marvel characters such as Captain America, the X-Men, Hulk, and of course, the Silver Surfer.

There has always been contention over Kirby’s rights of ownership to the characters he created or helped to create. For years he battled Marvel in an effort to have the rights to his characters returned to him.  It’s a long story I won’t go into here, except to say that although Kirby has since passed away, his longstanding battle is about to heat up.

Bleeding Cool are reporting that the estate of Jack Kirby has issued termination of copyright notices to Marvel, Disney and any studio that produces films based on characters he created or co-created. It’s a lawsuit that will settle the ownership rights contention issue once and for all.

If the Kirby Estate wins, the upshot is they would then be in a position to negotiate with Marvel over terms to continue publishing comics based on Kirby’s work.  I imagine that position extends into Marvel/Disney’s use of that property in film.

Might this have an effect on the Silver Surfer movie?

According to Nikke Finke at Deadline Hollywood, if the Kirby Estate’s claims are found valid, they would regain their copyright ownership in 2014.  This would seem to indicate that, at the very least, the first Silver Surfer movie would escape unscathed.

Of course, if the Silver Surfer movie franchise extends to more than one film, then it would seem this lawsuit could have an impact. Finke reports that Marvel/Disney and the film studios would still retain trademark ownership, so it is my guess that if the Kirby Estate wins the suit, I imagine the issue will predominately be on how much the Kirby Estate gets in royalties from the film studios which, in turn, becomes an additional financial burden for the film studios.

Either way, if you’re interested in Silver Surfer movies, this lawsuit is something to keep up with as it unfolds.

More as it comes to hand.