Entertainment has made a bid to film Pirates of Venus, and they sent representatives to the San Diego Comic Con International last year to promote the project. They handed out promotional items such as collector buttons and T-shirts, as well as numerous sketches by staff artists, some of which we have reproduced in this issue of the newsletter (there are more on their web site at www.angelicentertainment.com). We contacted Tarzan artist Thomas Yeates who attended the convention, which drew over 110,000 people from all over the globe. He says he's been in contact with the man writing the screen adaptation for Pirates of Venus, observing, "He seems to be giving it his all, so we’ll see if that’s enough to sell it."

Yeates also told us that Angelic’s option expires in October of this year, so they will need to renew it if the signs are positive. He says he wants to work with Angelic on the film, so he hopes it will get off the ground. Meanwhile, Bruce Pobjoy, Angelic's Senior Vice-President of Production, and Mark Maine, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Angelic, have been meeting with many industry professionals, as well as artists, producers, and pop culture fans, to get support for the film.

Pobjoy told reporters: "Mark and I both share a passion for the Burroughs novels. It is our intention to be loyal to the integrity of his writing, while at the same time updating and modernizing the stories for today’s sensibilities and sophisticated movie audiences. We hope this is just the beginning of a long and fruitful association with ERB, Incorporated."

For longsuffering ERB fans, these words sound very familiar. The same things were said for the Epic Adventure series, as well as for the more recent WB Tarzan TV series featuring Travis Fimmel which ran for only eight episodes before diving into the bottomless depths of defeat. (This series was just starting to get interesting when it collapsed, so I was sorry to say "goodbye.") But we need to be optimistic. Burroughs himself couldn't get the response he needed to produce his one and only Tarzan film, and spent several years paying off the box office deficits.

Angelic Entertainment was formed only in 1997, so they are relatively young and inexperienced, although idealistic in their hopes to produce "Content-Responsible" entertainment. They have optioned to produce not only Pirates of Venus but Girl from Hollywood, so if they are successful in their bid, the door will be open for more Burroughs films from Angelic. They espouse “inspiration and creativity” as hallmarks for all their film and media projects, so we will keep our fingers crossed. They
reported an “overwhelming positive reaction” to Pirates of Venus from those attending the Com-Con International, which convinced them they had picked a good choice for box office success. Thomas Yeates says he hasn't heard back yet from his sources at Angelic, but will let us know if there is good or bad news to report. 

... "Ye Editor"

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