ANT-MAN Has Some Competition, MGM Rebooting THE SHRINKING MAN

While director Edgar Wright tries to bring Marvel's Ant-Man to the screen in a few years, he will have some competition from another diminutive hero, as MGM is rebooting The Shrinking Man.

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By nailbiter111 - 2/13/2013


In 1956, Richard Matheson's novel, The Shrinking Man, was published. A year later the book was adapted to film as The Incredible Shrinking Man, and again in 1981 for The Incredible Shrinking Woman. The 1957 film was directed by Jack Arnold, and starred Grant Williams.

Fast forward to now, and MGM has acquired the rights to Richard Matheson's The Shrinking Man. What's most interesting is that Matheson (87 years-old) and his son, Richard Matheson Jr., will be writing the screenplay. While the film will receive a modern take, the tone will stay the same as the original - bleak.

Richard Matheson is a legend in the science-fiction community as he contributed to Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone," wrote the novel I Am Legend, and one of Steven Spielberg's most intense films, Duel.

Describing the new iteration as “an existential action movie,” the elder Matheson says, “My original story was a metaphor for how man’s place in the world was diminishing. That still holds today, where all these advancements that are going to save us will be our undoing.”

His son, Richard Christian Matheson, is no stranger to writing as he inherited the gift from his dad. He has wrote several episodes of "Masters Of Horror" as well as high school comedy, "Three O'Clock High."

Original Plot (1956) - While on holiday, the protagonist (Scott Carey) is exposed to a cloud of radioactive spray shortly after he accidentally ingests insecticide. The radioactivity acts as a catalyst for the bug spray, causing his body to shrink at a rate of approximately 1/7 of an inch per day. A few weeks later, Carey can no longer deny the truth: not only is he losing weight, he is also shorter than he was and deduces, to his dismay, that his body will continue to shrink. - Wikipedia




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48 Comments
thatdylhooper - 2/13/2013, 11:02 AM
BRING ON THE CAPTAIN ATOM MOVIE!!!!!!!!
Rhysno1 - 2/13/2013, 11:03 AM
Oh lord
Moakynubs - 2/13/2013, 11:03 AM
Next up, Honey I Shrunk the Kids.
Paragon79 - 2/13/2013, 11:04 AM
I wouldn't really call it competition, one is a CBM, the other isn't.
PC04 - 2/13/2013, 11:09 AM
I'm sure this is a complete coincidence....
devil - 2/13/2013, 11:09 AM
ant-man wiil make more money at the box office
scarecr0w13 - 2/13/2013, 11:11 AM
cut edgar wright loose and give ant-man to a director who actually wants to make it. its been like six years weve been hearing about him "working" on this movie.
Gusto - 2/13/2013, 11:11 AM
LOL...bad kitty!
Brady1138 - 2/13/2013, 11:13 AM
Yes, because everyone remembers The Incredible Shrinking Man! Right...?
MARVELPSYCHO79 - 2/13/2013, 11:13 AM
That movie won't even come out until after Ant-Man in 2015.They have to write a script,get a director,and more.Ant-Man already has a finished script and director,now Edgar Wright needs to find his cast.
MARVELPSYCHO79 - 2/13/2013, 11:14 AM
@devil Yes,Ant-Man will make way more money at the box office.
sKeemAn - 2/13/2013, 11:19 AM
If this comes out a year or two later everyone will think its a sequel or reboot. lol
MARVELPSYCHO79 - 2/13/2013, 11:27 AM
Hey,does anybody remember Matheson's Three O'Clock High movie.I haven't seen it in a long time.I mostly remember the fight scene at the end.
imnotwearinghockeypants - 2/13/2013, 11:27 AM
Excellent book, should be nothing like an Ant Man movie.
JatevinM - 2/13/2013, 11:27 AM
I have a feeling that this movie is going to make people not take Ant-man seriously which is already a risk that the movie runs to begin with.
RamonSuarez - 2/13/2013, 11:31 AM
There is a long leap from acquiring the rights to a movie and actually producing it. They need time to find producers, cast a director, hammer out a script, and cast the lead parts.
RamonSuarez - 2/13/2013, 11:31 AM
@MARVELPSYCHO79

Agreed. Antman is way ahead of the game.
m0th3r - 2/13/2013, 11:31 AM
love the originality..and for people calling for the Atom...come the [frick] on...DC/WB can even get anything done at this point. They are a complete joke..if Superman doesn't hit a complete home run that whole DC Universe is back to square one.
Gusto - 2/13/2013, 11:35 AM
Batz...that's why I made this...

HAILHYDRA - 2/13/2013, 11:36 AM
I will be pissed if the trailer for this is showing the same time as Ant-Man.
fettastic - 2/13/2013, 11:52 AM
This is what happens when you [frick] around for years thinking you have all the time in the world.
thefirstavenger97 - 2/13/2013, 11:54 AM
@Joe, you need another censor.
MyInnerDork - 2/13/2013, 11:55 AM
No where near competition for Marvel's Ant-Man.
fettastic - 2/13/2013, 11:56 AM
Shrinking Man is a great flick. I did not know until now it was written by Matheson, but it has a similar feel to I Am Legend so it fits.

The fight with the spider is epic. That HAS to be in the new one no matter what.
California - 2/13/2013, 11:56 AM
Marvel shouldn't wait so darn long! 3 Marvel movies a year!
KeefNCookies - 2/13/2013, 11:56 AM
I'm not even excited about Ant-Man if they're going to immediately pass the torch off to Scott Lang. I want at least 3 movies with Pym and Janet... if not, I probably wont go see it.
fettastic - 2/13/2013, 11:58 AM
@MyInnerDork, not competitive, but derivative. What would have been an incredibly novel concept will seem like a rip-off and repetitive to those not in the know.
JoeMomma29 - 2/13/2013, 11:58 AM
thank for catching that firstavenger 97
fettastic - 2/13/2013, 12:00 PM
As far as I'm concerned, Wright needs to shit or get off the pot NOW! No more of this "The longer I wait the more I learn" garbage. Let him make a movie that doesn't BOMB, then I'll be more convinced he's worth waiting for.
thatdylhooper - 2/13/2013, 12:08 PM
Captain Atom? annyone?
HAILHYDRA - 2/13/2013, 12:12 PM
@thatdylhooper If DC can't pull one of it's A-list heroes like Green Lantern you can forget about Captain Atom.
fettastic - 2/13/2013, 12:15 PM
And yes Ant-Man is yet another example of Marvel ripping off DC. Captain Atom debuted 2 years earlier.
NorseGod - 2/13/2013, 12:18 PM
Sounds good. I wouldn't consider it copetition, the movies will have very different plots and tone. One is a superhero who changes size at a whim, the other is a man who unfortunately and uncontrolably keeps getting smaller. Is there any word when this movie is planned to be released? Maybe they'll wait to see how well Ant-Man does?
SaxoWolf - 2/13/2013, 12:29 PM
IIIAdamantiumIII - 2/13/2013, 12:35 PM
Has anyone made a Gusto penis joke yet ? was lazy about reading comments
Gusto - 2/13/2013, 12:37 PM
Every woman I date, dude...
Gusto - 2/13/2013, 12:54 PM
alecwright - 2/13/2013, 12:58 PM
"@devil Yes,Ant-Man will make way more money at the box office." -MARVELPSYCHO79





Right. Because Edgar Wright has a great track record of box office success...Ugh.



@Brady1138 I'm sure far more people are familiar with The Incredible Shrinking Man than they are with ANT-MAN. I swear, some of you fanboys must live in a frickin' bubble.
marvel72 - 2/13/2013, 1:45 PM
my money is on ant-man being the better of the two.
TheCasualLurker - 2/13/2013, 2:16 PM
@AlecWright I agree. I grew up watching 50's SciFi movies on saturday afternoons in the 80's. Then I got them all over again with MST3K during the 90's.

This is competition. The Public doesn't know who Ant Man is at all. Yes, Ant Man is a CBM... To Comic Book fans.

To everyone else its "Sigh, another CBM?". Not to mention that those people don't want to see what Ant Man will look like to them, "Honey, I Shrunk the Comic Book Hero". Bet, those same people will remember growing up with the Incredible Shrinking Man.

I'm not saying they will see either one, but they will compare and contrast the 2 "Shrinking Guy" movies. Thus, competition.
Optimus83 - 2/13/2013, 2:22 PM
THE SHRINKING MAN???
IIIAdamantiumIII - 2/13/2013, 2:41 PM
XD oooooh Gusto
SpideyQuad - 2/13/2013, 3:29 PM
They should make a dead pool movie instead or venom. Everyone knows this concept would never work (eyes rolling)

That was for your benefit monkey balls!
bababoozer - 2/13/2013, 3:32 PM
ISM was a fun and interesting movie, and with the FX capabilities these days, it ought be visually stunning at the very least.
MARVELPSYCHO79 - 2/13/2013, 4:56 PM
Edgar Wright has made good movies but they haven't been blockbusters @alecwright.This movie is in good hands with Wright.I think Ant-Man will put Wright in the big leagues.
TheAbomination - 2/13/2013, 7:44 PM
Gonna be a mini-sized smackdown at the box office that weekend.
NPaMusic - 2/13/2013, 8:21 PM
Ceejay - 2/13/2013, 11:10 PM
It's a REMAKE not a REBOOT, there is no franchise, just a stand alone movie. And for crissakes get the title right!

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