Columbia Pictures has decided against making a feature film based on Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s cutting-edge series The Boys, which is published by Dynamite Entertainment.  Back in February of 2008 Columbia optioned the comic book (see “Columbia Opts for The Boys”), which Ennis and Robertson had begun at DC Comics, but moved to Dynamite after the series about a secret CIA group set up to keep the proliferation of superheroes under control proved too controversial for DC (see “The Boys Not Too Hot for Dynamite”).

 

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Columbia has decided to pass on The Boys. Producers Neal Moritz and Jason Netter are now free to shop the project, which includes an adaptation, which writers Matt Manfredi, Phil Hay, and Seth Rogen have worked on, to other studios.  Any studio interested in picking the project up would have to reimburse Columbia for the development cost incurred so far.