Our readers in France (or anyone familiar) will hopefully be able to enlighten the rest of us on what is said to be a popular French comic book, because it’s becoming a movie.
Titled "Mutafukaz," the French comic book is being developed into an animated feature-length film by French publishing powerhouse Ankama, to be directed by RUN (aka Guillaume Renard, the comic book creator) & Shojiro Nishimi, with Shinji Kimura serving as artistic director, and is set to be released in french theaters in 2017.
My research turned up an official description of the work as “a 2D urban sci-fi spoof,” and set in a “pre-apocalyptic American urban jungle” that’s called… wait for it… Dark Meat City, and centers on a “twenty-something ghetto-dweller who develops supernatural powers after a motorcycle accident,” turning him into a superhero, who saves humanity, as he fights off an alien invasion.
The name of the 20-something “ghetto-dweller” is Angelino; he lives with his best friend Vinz in a hotel room, in Dark Meat City. He earns his living by doing odd jobs, until, one day, while delivering a pizza on his scooter, he’s hit by a van, and survives, and is suddenly blessed with the power to see into the future, which he originally believes are simple hallucinations, brought on by the accident. This puts him in the sights of governmental agents, known as the Men In Black, who are out to destroy an extraterrestrial force.
My French is a little rusty, but that’s what I got from the synopsis. Google’s translate application didn’t do that great of a job either.
The creator of the series – Guillaume Renard – actually directed a short film in 2002 based on the comic. It reportedly screened at several film festivals, including the Sundance Film Festival.
The feature-film will be budgeted between $11 million-$14 million, and will be targeted at young adults.
Also, the original score will blend hip-hop and reggaeton.
If you’re familiar with the comic, please chime in.
I did find the below 7 minute video, which may or may not be the short film Renard made that played film festivals years ago. I haven’t been able to confirm that, or if the feature will even look and sound like this, so take that for what it is:
