Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) is set to star in Dead of Night, an adaptation of Tiziano Sclavi’s Dylan Dog comic book series, according to Variety.  Kevin Munroe, who directed the most recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie (and was originally announced as the director of a CGI Gotchaman feature for Imagi), will helm Dead of Night, which is being produced by Hyde Park, the same company that is currently filming an adaptation of the Street Fighter anime (see “Lana’s Takin’ It to the Street”).  With the announcement of Routh’s casting it appears that this long-gestating project is finally getting underway.

Joshua Oppenheimer and Tom Donnelly, the screenwriting team responsible for Sahara, have written the screenplay for Dead of Night (see “Sahara Scribes on Dylan Dog”), which is based on the popular Italian comic book series about a “nightmare” investigator that Sclavi introduced in 1986.  Dylan Dog comics have been translated into 17 languages.  Dark Horse published seven Dylan Dog books from 2001-2002, all of which are currently out of print.

Scott Mitchell Rosenberg will co-produce Dead of Night for Platinum Studios, which also has Cowboys and Aliens and  Atlantis Rising set up at Dreamworks and Unique at Disney.