Stan Lee was a legendary figure in comics, but filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov is revealing a lesser-known side of the creative genius to the world.
Stan Lee is most famous for co-creating iconic Marvel characters like Spider-Man, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four. But he wasn’t limited to superheroes; he explored other creative avenues too. He wrote political comics like Election Daze: What Are They Really Saying? and even dabbled in horror, including a film project called Night of the Witch that he developed with Lloyd Kaufman of Troma Entertainment, though it was never made.
A project called Carnival of Killers is moving forward thanks to a recent update from Timur Bekmambetov. In conversations with ScreenRant’s Tatiana Hullender for the Debunking AI series and Liam Crowley at the Mercy premiere, Bekmambetov shared that he found the original story treatment for the horror film by Lee. He’s now secured the rights to the project and has written a full script.
Timur Bekmambetov remembers first meeting Stan Lee at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con. He was there promoting his animated film, 9, with the cast, Tim Burton, and director Shane Acker. After a screening, Bekmambetov met Lee – ‘an old man,’ as he recalled – in the hotel bar. Lee told him he loved 9, saying it reminded him of his childhood during the Great Depression.
Timur Bekmambetov shared with me how his mother first took him to the circus, and it completely blew his mind! He was fascinated by everything – the acrobats, the strongmen, the magicians, even the clowns. He said it was his entire world growing up. Working on the movie really let him revisit those childhood memories. It made me realize that all the amazing heroes he creates aren’t so different from circus performers. They’re essentially those weightlifters and acrobats, all inspired by what he experienced as a seven-year-old boy.
So, Timur Bekmambetov told me a fascinating story about a script he received from Brandon Lee’s team years after Lee’s passing. It was called Carnival of Killers, and the idea is seriously cool – an alien invasion happening during the Great Depression, targeting the strongmen and performers of a traveling circus. He said it was very personal to Lee, inspired by his own upbringing, and he even hinted that it might be his next project. Honestly, it sounds amazing and I’m really hoping he does it!
While Carnival of Killers is the first project, it’s just the beginning of director Timur Bekmambetov’s plans to bring Stan Lee’s horror stories to the big screen. His production company, Bazelevs, announced in late 2021 they were creating a new shared cinematic universe based on Lee’s later comic book work through POW! Entertainment. Besides Carnival, Bekmambetov also intended to adapt Sawbones, a story about a young boy who gets pulled into a comic book and must defeat a villain to return home.
Timur Bekmambetov was planning to direct a horror movie, and had brought on several experienced horror writers to help. He was considering adapting either Carnival of Killers or Sawbones. Carnival of Killers would have been written by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer, who previously directed the 2019 film Pet Sematary. Sawbones was to be written by Matt Greenberg, who has also adapted works by Stephen King, including the movie 1408 starring John Cusack.
After Timur Bekmambetov focused on developing the ‘Screenlife’ style of filmmaking – directing and producing films like Unfriended, Profile, and a new take on War of the Worlds – it appeared he’d put Carnival of Killers and its related story ideas aside. But with his recent film Mercy, starring Chris Pratt, representing a return to more conventional filmmaking, he might be motivated to revisit and finally create the sci-fi horror movie.
If the project comes to fruition, it would be the first time a story created by Stan Lee, outside of Marvel, has been adapted for the screen. While Marvel and Sony’s Spider-Man films continue to showcase many of his famous characters, his last non-Marvel project was the British TV show Lucky Man, which aired ten years ago. Now, Bekmambetov needs to secure funding from investors who believe in bringing Lee’s horror stories to life.
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2026-01-24 19:49