DMG Entertainment has purchased Valiant Entertainment, bringing the battle for superhero shared universe superiority to new heights.
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DMG Entertainment is a company that has had a hand in producing movies such as Looper and Iron Man 3. The company, which is run by CEO and founder Dan Mintz, already had 57 percent ownership of Valiant. Now DMG has full ownership and with it, full ownership of the third-largest superhero shared universe behind Marvel and DC Comics.
“This is about taking it to the next level,” Mintz tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I am not looking on expanding from a publishing standpoint but from a motion picture standpoint.”
Valiant’s intellectual property catalog includes an estimated 2,000 characters, including X-O Manowar, Bloodshot, Shadowman, Ninjak, Archer and Armstrong, Quantum and Woody, and the characters from the Harbinger books.
Mintz says he’s not looking to fix anything at Valiant that isn’t broken in the publishing side of things.
“The plan is not to go in there and take apart what’s working,” he says.
That said, Dinesh Shamdasani is vacating his position as CEO and exiting the company.
Mintz says the plan is currently to let Valiant’s comics line continue as is while looking for opportunities in other mediums.
“You can expect more strong storytelling with a defined road to other platforms,” he says. “I’m also looking forward to bringing the writers close to the filmmaking process, which is something that is also important, and not keeping them siloed into the comic book area.”
There are already several Valiant properties in the works to become movies or television series. Harbinger and Bloodshot are being planned as films in a shared universe at Sony Pictures. Vin Diesel is attached to play the title role in Bloodshot.
Quantum and Woody is in development as a television series with the Russo Brothers’ Getaway Productions producing. Dr. Mirage is in development as a television series at CBS Studios for The CW.
Valiant was originally founded in 1989 by former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. The publisher became a rival to Marvel and DC Comics and was purchased by video game company Acclaim Entertainment in the 1990s. When Acclaim hit hard times in the early 2000s, the rights to Valiant’s properties were relinquished. Shamdasani and Jason Kothari purchased those rights and rebooted the brand and its superhero universe in 2012. The new Valiant Entertainment has gone on to publish several critically-praised and award-winning series.
