Paramount Picks Up The Rights To The Pro Graphic Novel

The Pro is the latest mature readers graphic novel to get picked up by a major studio, in this case Paramount Pictures.

It’s amazing how the unprecedented success of Deadpool has completely changed the superhero genre in Hollywood.

Prior to Deadpool, the general understanding was that superhero films had to be rated PG-13, and even that was considered pushing the envelope. Movie producers seemed to think that only teenagers and small kids with their parents went and saw these films.

That changed a bit with the success of The Matrix, which was for all intents and purposes a comic book movie just without the comic book. Unfortunately, the failure of the two sequels dampened the demand for more adult comic book films.

However, with the release of Deadpool everything everyone thought they knew went out the window. The film would go on the make over $750 million worldwide and suddenly, making R-rated comic book films was at the forefront of everyone’s mind.

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As a result Fox decided to allow the third Wolverine film to get an R rating and audiences responded with a worldwide gross of over $525 million and counting. Deadpool will be getting an R-rated sequel and the proposed X-Force film will also be shooting for an R rating.

However, while R-rated superhero films are all well and good, I don’t think moviegoers are quite ready for the likes of The Pro.

The Pro was a graphic novel by Garth Ennis, Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti released by Image Comics. It is the story of a prostitute that suddenly wakes up one day with superpowers, and not a prostitute with a heart of gold like in Pretty Woman either.

The Pro is easily the single most offensive, bawdy, over the top book I have ever read. Literally nothing was off limits and there are sequences in the book that would make even the most jaded comic book fan blush in embarrassment.

The Pro was also one of the funniest books I have ever experienced. It is so ridiculous that you can’t help but laugh out loud over what is going on, most of which I can’t talk about on a family website.

And now The Pro is going to be a movie.

Deadline is reporting that Paramount Pictures has secured the rights to make a film version of The Pro. Erwin Stoff of 3 Arts will be producing the project and Zoe McCarthy (Bitches On A Boat) will be writing the screenplay.

Now it should be said that if Paramount keeps the film version of The Pro true to the comic, it will likely have to be rated NC-17, so expect some changes when the movie arrives in theaters.

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Amazing how the superhero genre has changed. If you find yourself sitting in a theater watching The Pro in a few years, you can thank Deadpool for the opportunity.

As more information about The Pro is released, you can read all about it right here on Bam Smack Pow.