Here’s a few reasons why Dinosaurs Vs. Aliens can succeed where Cowboys & Aliens failed….

1. Dinosaurs are not capable of being boring. I love Daniel Craig, but an emotionless, nameless cowboy in a movie with no flavor is dull. A Tyrannosaurs Rex is never dull, even if it’s just standing there.

2. The title is actually VERSUS rather than just a dumb ampersand. It’s an aggressive suggestions of fun! and conflict! rather than flatly stated fact. People pick up on that shit…

3. Dinosaurs

4. Grant Morrison vs. The Guy Who Came Up With Cowboys & Aliens

5. Dinosaurs

I could go deeper, but you get the idea: my excitement remains as strong as on the first day this project was announced. If you don’t recall, Grant Morrison has been tapped to simultaneously write a graphic novel and a screenplay of the Dinoasurs Vs. Aliens concept for Barry Sonnenfeld to direct. According to a new interview in the Daily Record though, he’s on his second draft of that script.

The real unexpected nugget coming from the interview though, is the news that Morrison will also be churning out a screenplay about a character from 2000 A.D. (the comic that spawned Judge Dredd), the lesser-known Rogue Trooper. A blue-skinned mercenary type, he’s a genetically modified soldier capable of surviving both a vacuum and being submerged in caustic chemicals with no protection. The character is definitely new to me, but he sounds like a very weird, very comic book character. That said, Morrison was hired onto the adaptation by the company of a well-known soldierly actor with no fear of a being blue… Sam Worthington. There are few details beyond that.

Rogue Trooper seems like the kind of quirky, but gritty comic book character that may start making it to screen as Hollywood digs deeper into the obscure. Empowered by Marvel’s success with some weirder characters, and driven by an actor with a vested interest in developing starring action roles for himself, the Trooper may actually make it to the big screen rather than sit as a forgotten property for ages. And hell, with Morrison behind the script that may not be a bad thing at all.

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(via Bleeding Cool)