In a rather surprising move, Marvel has announced that they’ll be bringing The Inhumans to ABC next Fall, with a premiere set for IMAX theatres. According to the studio, the show will “explore the never-before-told epic adventure of Black Bolt and the royal family,” and will have its first two episodes shot entirely with IMAX digital cameras, hence the debut on the silver screen.
Though the Inhumans were originally set to be part of the MCU, with a movie booked in for a 2018 release, chatter on the project quietly died down over the last year or so and many people thought it’d been shelved for good. Turns out that was kind of true, as now instead of a feature film, the property will be getting its own television series. Perhaps not as exacting as a movie then, but I suppose it’s the next best thing, right?
“This unprecedented alliance represents a bold, innovative approach to launching great TV content for a worldwide audience,” said Ben Sherwood, co-chairman, Disney Media Networks and president, Disney|ABC Television Group. “It highlights Disney|ABC’s unrelenting commitment to finding new and creative ways to showcasing our very best programming and increasing global engagement and reach.”
“This first-of-its-kind multi-platform production, distribution and marketing agreement brings together Marvel Television’s unique brand of entertainment, ABC’s unparalleled audience and IMAX’s brand and global fanboy demographic,” said IMAX CEO, Rich Gelfond. “It also takes our decades-long relationship with The Walt Disney Company to a whole new level, jointly breaking new ground in the industry. We are confident our exhibition partners will be excited to work with us on this innovative launch of a series across the IMAX network.”
For those unfamiliar with the Inhumans, they’re a race of “super-humans with diverse and singularly unique powers” who should be familiar to viewers of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as they’ve already been introduced there in some capacity. However, seeing as the announcement from Marvel mentions Black Bolt and the royal family, you can expect this new series to focus on different Inhumans than what we’ve seen on S.H.I.E.L.D.
In fact, I’d even guess that The Inhumans will have little to no ties to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as it’s no secret that Marvel is struggling a bit with that particular show. Not to mention that the studio will want people to be able to jump into The Inhumans without having to watch S.H.I.E.L.D. first.
The other interesting thing to note here is the IMAX aspect. Shooting the series with those types of cameras will no doubt give it a more cinematic look and feel, and if Marvel is confident enough to be able to put a television show on an IMAX screen, well, then you better bet they’ve got something special in store for us with The Inhumans.
We’ll keep you posted as more on the project comes to light, but for now, you can definitely color us intrigued.
