At long last, Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass, is close to securing a distributor, with three studios currently vying for the bold and brutally violent comic-book adaptation.
Lionsgate, Paramount and Universal are the companies duking it out to secure the rights to the independently-financed film for a figure that, according to the Hollywood Reporter, will be a serious seven-figure sum, plus a commitment to P&A.
The interest was sparked by the film’s recent rapturously-received debut at Comic-Con, where Vaughn showed several clips. It was one of the biggest hits of the ‘Con, with a reaction up there with big guns like Avatar and Iron Man 2.
Vaughn, who took the incredibly brave decision to self-finance the movie after pulling out of a deal with Sony following key creative differences with the studio, has always been quietly confident about the appeal of his movie, which follows a normal teenager who, inspired by comic books, decides to become a DIY superhero, becoming embroiled in a dark and violent world dominated by insane gangsters and heroes who are much, much better than him, including Nicolas Cage’s Big Daddy and his eleven year-old daugher, Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz).
Nevertheless, given that the movie started shooting almost a year ago, there’s bound to be relief that the long search for a distributor who won’t be cowed by the movie’s no-nonsense, R-rated approach and controversy-baiting content (not only does Hit Girl kill virtually everybody on the planet, but she uses fruity language that will have The Daily Mail’s Chris Tookey spluttering onto his keyboard with indignant rage).
We’re not sure which studio will ultimately emerge victorious, but our money’s on either Paramount (which has a history of distributing films that it didn’t finance, after its deal with Marvel) and Universal. Given our track record for predictions, it’s bound to be Lionsgate now.