Keanu Reeves will star in a feature film adaptation and an anime spinoff series based on his BOOM! comic book series BRZRKR.
THR revealed that Netflix has landed the rights to the BOOM! Studios comic that debuted earlier this month. Reeves will produce alongside Ross Richie and Stephen Christy for BOOM! Studios and Stephen Hamel of Company Films. Adam Yoelin of BOOM! Studios will executive produce. The comic is set to run for 12 issues, which the film will adapt, while the anime will explore other facets of the larger universe.
Reeves created the concept for the book (and lent his likeness to the protagonist), which is written by Matt Kindt (Mind MGMT) and illustrated by Ron Garney (Amazing Spider-Man). Per Netflix and BOOM!, BRZRKR is a “brutally epic saga about an immortal warrior’s 80,000-year fight through the ages. The man known only as B is half-mortal and half-god, cursed and compelled to violence… even at the sacrifice of his sanity. But after wandering the earth for centuries, B may have finally found a refuge – working for the U.S. government to fight the battles too violent and too dangerous for anyone else. In exchange, B will be granted the one thing he desires – the truth about his endless blood-soaked existence… and how to end it."
The comic is already a massive hit for the publisher, having sold over 600,000 copies of its first issue. That makes the title the biggest launch in decades and the best-selling single issue since Jason Aaron and John Cassaday's Star Wars #1 for Marvel Comics in 2015, which sold over one million copies total. More impressively, BRZRKR hit the milestone a month before it was even released in stores.
Alongside bringing his ongoing comic into two new mediums, Reeves recently wrapped production on Matrix 4. He will also begin shooting John Wick 4 this spring. BOOM! Studios, meanwhile, has a first-look deal with Netflix for more potential live-action and animated features and series, so further comic book adaptations could soon be in the works at the streaming service.
Written by Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt, illustrated by Ron Garney, colored by Bill Crabtree, lettered by Clem Robins, and with character designs and covers by Rafael Grampá, BRZRKR #1 is on sale now from BOOM! Studios. There's no release date yet for the film or animated series.
Source: THR
