Christmas is almost upon us, which means Hollywood is once again shutting down for a holiday. But deals are still being struck, such as DreamWorks Animation reaching into the limbo of turnaround and plucking out the rights to the comic book Maintenance, dusting it off and adopting it like a Dickensian orphan that had been shivering in the street.
Originally published by Oni Press in 2006, Jim Massey and Robbi Rodriguez’ story follows two caretakers who work at TerroMax, Inc, the world’s most notorious – and best – evil think tank. They spend their days cleaning up after toxic beasts, fixing time machines and generally trying to avoid the wrath of their boss. Oh, and there are mad scientists, jetpack-wearing cavemen, marauding aliens looking to take back their technology and a cute girl working in reception who they both fancy.
Warners originally bought up the book and started to develop it, with Joe Ballarini working on a script for McG to possibly direct. But then his attention shifted elsewhere and Maintenance was quietly dropped into the slush pile.
Now DWA has it, though there’s currently no writing or directing team attached just yet. But given that Monsters Vs Aliens and Megamind did decent business for it you can sort of see why the company might be attracted to the idea…