Marvel Studios has tapped “The Rider” director Chloe Zhao to direct “The Eternals,” a movie based on the comic book series about an evolutionary offshoot of humanity, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.
Blacklist screenwriters Matthew and Ryan Firpo (“Ruin”) are writing the script. Marvel Studios Chief Kevin Feige is producing.
So what are the “Eternals?” Created by comic legend Jack Kirby in 1976, the “Eternals” are a race of ancient human beings created a million years ago by the cosmic entities known as the Celestials.
According to ComicVine, the Celestials accelerated the evolution of a handful of subjects and gave them the genetic potential to mentally manipulate limited quantities of cosmic energy, as well as other superhuman traits.
The story will focus on the female Eternal known as Sersi, (no, not the character on “Game of Thrones”), several insiders have told TheWrap.
“We have started working on what are the films post-phase 3,” Feige previously told TheWrap, referencing the forthcoming fourth part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s slate of movies after the wind-down of franchises based on the original Avengers.
But Feige still has a whole lot of work to do on the current MCU phase, telling TheWrap that most of the studio’s current efforts are going into finishing “Captain Marvel,” as well as editing an untitled Avengers film.
Zhao is best known for her well-reviewed Sundance breakout “The Rider.”
Zhao is repped by WME and Lichter Grossman Nichols Adler & Feldman.