Sony Nabs Rights To Sci-Fi Comic Book Series ‘Descender’

The first issue of Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen’s comic book series isn’t eve

n published yet, but they already have a studio for potential movie adaptations. Sony Pictures said today that it has picked up feature film rights to Descender, which debuts March 4 from Image Comics. Josh Bratman will produce the film with Lemire and Nguyen attached to executive produce. Michael De Luca and Rachel O’Connor will oversee the project for Sony.

Descender is described as a sprawling space opera odyssey about a little boy looking for home in a universe that hates and fears him. The incredibly lifelike artificial boy, TIM-21, might hold the secrets deep in his machine DNA to the origin of robots that have decimated entire planets. As a result, he is the most-wanted robot in the universe. Before long the entire galaxy is looking for TIM-21 and his ragtag group of unlikely companions, as they make their way from one exotic planet to the next with new foes advancing on them at every turn.

“It was a competitive situation for Descender, and we are thrilled that it ended with Sony Pictures acquiring the series,” Lemire and Nguyen said in a statement. “We know that their film translation will do justice to the original comics, and we are thrilled with their belief in the franchise potential.”

Lemire and Nguyen are repped by Cheng Caplan Company and Stone, Meyer, Genow, Smelkinson & Binder.

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