By Breeanna Hare
(CNN) — With a massively successful movie in his rear-view, “Iron Man 3” director Shane Black has set his sights on his next project: Doc Savage.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Black is set to direct an adventure film starring the vintage character from a script he co-wrote.
Savage was a popular pulp figure in the ’30s and ’40s who had a vast array of talents – he’s a physician, scientist, inventor and explorer who’s super strong and smart.
There was a prior attempt to bring his story to the big screen in 1975 with “Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze,” but it didn’t go over well.
Black has already written the current screenplay with Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the filmmaker began working on the script in 2009 with the intent to helm it in 2010 before the “Iron Man 3” gig popped up.
That movie, Black’s first directorial job since his 2005 debut “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” had the second biggest opening weekend of all time when it bowed domestically May 3. Worldwide, the third installment in the “Iron Man” franchise has earned $711 million.
Over at Sony, execs are eyeing Doc Savage as a franchise of its own.
“We couldn’t be more excited to be building a franchise from the ground up with Shane and this team,” Sony’s president of production, Hannah Minghella, said in a statement. “Shane and Neal have a fantastic understanding of the character and a great take on the material and we can’t wait to get this production up and running.”
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