{"id":101,"date":"2007-10-10T00:54:00","date_gmt":"2007-10-10T04:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/?p=101"},"modified":"2018-11-18T22:32:11","modified_gmt":"2018-11-19T03:32:11","slug":"no-hope-for-landiss-bat-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/2007\/10\/10\/no-hope-for-landiss-bat-boy\/","title":{"rendered":"No Hope For Landis’s BAT BOY?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some disappointing news for you fans of films adapted from off-Broadway musicals based on supermarket tabloid headlines. It appears that director John Landis’s big screen adaptation of Bat Boy: The Musical<\/em> that has been languishing in development may not be escaping into active production any time soon, if ever.<\/p>\n

Speaking briefly with Landis after his press conference at the New York Film Festival yesterday for his new documentary Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project<\/strong>, we asked him what was happening with the film.<\/p>\n

“Bat Boy<\/strong>\u2019s a tragedy,” he replied, shaking his head. “I don\u2019t think anyone will give us the money. I’ve been trying.”<\/p>\n

Bat Boy first appeared on the cover of the Weekly World News<\/em> in 1992, where his freakish features made that issue one of the highest selling issues in the tabloids history. Other stories about the half-man, half-bat creature soon followed. Soon Bat Boy had become such the cultural icon that Keythe Farley, Brian Flemming and Laurence O’Keefe collaborated on bringing the character to the stage in a production that debuted appropriately enough on Halloween, 1997.<\/p>\n

Although Landis’ more recent work has not fared well at the box office, I have to admit that I’m a bit surprised that he has been having difficulties securing financing for the film. His films Animal House<\/strong> (1978), The Blues Brothers<\/strong> (1980), An American Werewolf In London<\/strong> (1981), Trading Places<\/strong> (1983) and Coming To America<\/strong> (1988) are all still popular today. Batboy seems like a project that would be uniquely suited to the director’s strengths and experiences. He has shown he can handle horror-tinged comedy with An<\/strong> American Werewolf In London<\/strong>, while The Blues Brothers<\/strong> and Blues Brothers 2000<\/strong> (story problems notwithstanding) show that he is no stranger to staging cinematic musical numbers. His collaboration with Michael Jackson for the music video cum short film Thriller<\/strong> came at what was arguably the height of his career and helped put a stamp of legitimacy on what was being considered at the time as a fairly disposable pop medium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some disappointing news for you fans of films adapted from off-Broadway musicals based on supermarket tabloid headlines. It appears that director John Landis’s big screen adaptation of Bat Boy: The Musical that has been languishing [click for more]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[1466,22,396,34,351],"series":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-101","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-bat-boy","9":"tag-in-development","10":"tag-john-landis","11":"tag-musical","12":"tag-stage-to-screen"},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t