Marvel’s Royal Family may have been shortlisted for a one-way ticket into the MCU, but in repackaging their live-action interpretation of the Inhumans, the studio has rustled up the next best thing: an IMAX double-bill beginning September 1st, before Black Bolt and the gang debut via ABC two weeks later.
It is, without question, a wildly ambitious plan for a relatively obscure comic book property, but after championing the show’s cinema-quality visual effects and A-list cast, series showrunner Scott Buck (Iron Fist) has shed new light on that IMAX launch, and how it’s opened up the canvas for a “massive, dramatic opening” to Marvel’s eight-part family drama. Not only that, but for all of the fantastical elements peppered throughout Inhumans – Black Bolt and his devastating voice, Medusa and her luscious, indestructible locks, and Lockjaw, the oversized dog capable of teleportation – Buck is quick to stress that “there will be plenty of humor” to balance the scales.
But up first, here’s an all-new still featuring Anson Mount’s Black Bolt and his scheming younger brother, Maximus, who will be brought to life by former Game of Thrones actor Iwan Rheon.
When pressed about that IMAX opening, Scott Buck went on to tease the ways in which the show’s VFX team harnessed the large-screen format, before delivering a “strikingly beautiful and unusual” series.
It gives us a massive, dramatic opening. It allows us to think bigger; to use visuals you don’t normally get on your television screen. We wanted [it to be] strikingly beautiful and unusual.
And though Marvel’s Royal Family aren’t on the same level as, say, The Defenders or Guardians of the Galaxy, Buck believes that the show’s prescient themes will resonate with the TV audience.
There will be plenty of humor and fantastic elements, but we’re dealing with relatable people in a moment of great crisis: a royal family forced into the position of refugees. They just happen to have superpowers.
Expect Marvel’s Inhumans to stage an IMAX double-bill in participating theaters from September 1st, before the series joins Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC two weeks later. The trailers and brief snippets released thus far have admittedly polarized Marvel fans, so it’ll be interesting to find out how the freshman drama fares once it emerges from the shadow of The Defenders (August 18th).
