Stan Lee’s Forgotten Sci-Fi Horror Movie Gets Exciting Update As Original Script Is Found

Stan Lee wasn’t only a comic book icon and filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov is ready to show the world a forgotten other side to Lee.

Undeniably best known as one of Marvel’s pioneers as he co-created everyone from Spider-Man to the X-Men, Fantastic Four and numerous others, Lee branched out in a variety of directions with his creativity. Ranging from the political fumetti book Election Daze: What Are They Really Saying? to penning the occasional horror tale, including the still-unproduced film Night of the Witch, which he conceived with Troma co-founder Lloyd Kaufman.

Another that has been waiting in the wings is that of Carnival of Killers, which just got an exciting update from Bekmambetov. In interviews with ScreenRant‘s Tatiana Hullender for the Debunking AI series and Liam Crowley on the Mercy red carpet, the filmmaker revealed he has rediscovered the original script treatment for Lee’s horror film, and has since “acquired the rights” to the project and even written a proper script.

Bekmambetov recalled having first met Lee during 2009’s San Diego Comic-Con, where he was promoting the animated post-apocalyptic horror-thriller 9 alongside its cast, fellow producer Tim Burton and director Shane Acker. Having returned to his hotel after a screening, Bekmambetov “met an old man” in the hotel bar, that being Lee, who told him “he really loves our movie” as it reminded the Marvel legend of his “childhood during the Great Depression“:

Timur Bekmambetov: His mother brought him into the circus. And he told me this story, how he was shocked by the acrobats and weightlifters and the magicians and clowns. It was his whole world. And our movie really brought him back into his childhood. I understood that all the superheroes he created were just circuses. They were actually the weightlifters and acrobats; it all came from that seven-year-old boy’s experience.

As Bekmambetov put it, “many years later” he received a script treatment from Lee’s team entitled Carnival of Killers, set in the Great Depression as an alien invasion descended on the “athletes and fighters” of a circus. Acknowledging it being inspired by Lee’s childhood, the filmmaker went on to tease that “maybe it will be the next movie” he chooses to make.

Carnival of Killers is actually only meant to be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Bekmambetov adapting Lee’s material for the screen. It was previously announced in late 2021 that the filmmaker’s production company, Bazelevs, were developing a new cinematic universe based on Lee’s horror stories under his later POW! Entertainment comic banner. In addition to Carnival, Bekmambetov was also eyeing an adaptation of Sawbones, in which a frail tween boy is transported into a mysterious comic and must stop the titular evil entity in order to escape.

While it’s been unclear which of the films he might direct, Bekmambetov had assembled a roster of horror genre vets in order to adapt both Carnival of Killers and Sawbones. The former was set to be penned by creative duo Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer, who helmed the 2019 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary, and the latter to be written by Matt Greenberg, similarly known for multiple King adaptations, including the John Cusack-led 1408.

With Bekmambetov having subsequently turned to growing his Screenlife genre, both as a director and as a producer on everything from the Unfriended films to Profile and Ice Cube-led War of the Worlds adaptation, it seemed as though Carnival of Killers and the wider Lee cinematic universe was on the backburner for him. However, with the Chris Pratt-led Mercy seeing him transition back toward a more traditional style of filmmaking, he may find himself reinvigorated to make the sci-fi horror film happen.

Should he get it made, it would also be the first non-Marvel-based adaptation of Stan Lee‘s works to make it to the screen. Both the Marvel Cinematic and Sony’s Spider-Man universes have kept many of his iconic characters alive and well, while the last non-Marvel project of his was that of the British superhero crime drama, Lucky Man a decade ago. Ultimately, Bekmambetov will have to find the right financial partners willing to put their faith in highlighting Lee’s horror stories.