Warner Bros. is close to picking up Avengelyne, its second big acquisition this week.
Warner Bros. is reportedly close to closing a seven-figure deal for the film rights to Avengelyne, a series created by Rob Liefeld that has been in and out of film and TV development for years., The project will reportedly come to WB by way of Margot Robbie’s production company, with Robbie expected to star as the title character and Olivia Wilde expected to direct. Poor Things writer Tony McNamara will write the screenplay, and according to Deadline, who first reported the talks, “most of the deals are closed,” meaning this is closer to reality than any prior attempt to bring the property to the screen.
A fallen angel, Avengelyne fights demons and monsters as a member of the Warhost of Heaven – think Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets John Wick and you have a decent idea of the vibe they’re focused on. She has great strength and miraculous (and weaponized) blood. The movie should be a pure actioner, something the producer of I Am Legend, The Losers, and upcoming Transformers movies (along with other Hasbro properties) shouldn’t have a problem with.
“Avengelyne resonated so powerfully with the audience because her story of redemption is one that is so relatable,” Liefeld said in a previous interview. “A fallen angel, sentenced to redeem herself by serving humanity, Earth is a foreign environment to her, she must adapt in order to save herself as well as mankind. Her dilemma provides humor amidst the larger plot engine driving her journey.”
Way back in 2023, Liefeld hoped to get a movie off the ground with Gina Carano as Avengelyne, By 2016, the movie had headed to Paramount, but without Carano’s involvement. The property seemingly never found another lead (or a script) before Paramount’s option expired.
LuckyChap, the production house Robbie runs with Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara, is set to produce, along with Simon Kinberg and Audrey Chon through their Genre shingle.
Deadline also claims that the rights deal for Avengelyne is expected to be even bigger than Warners’ recent deal to make Josh Gad and Paul Walter Hauser’s biopic of Chris Farley, which cost the studio about $2.5 million to acquire. Liefeld, meanwhile, has been teasing plans for a Bloodstrike movie. He also has Prophet still in some stage of development, although it seems to have suffered a few setbacks, with writer Marc Guggenheim and star Jake Gyllenhaal both off the project at this stage.
