EXCLUSIVE: Academy Award winner Peter Ramsey (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) and former Overbook head Caleeb Pinkett (Cobra Kai) are set to produce a live-action feature adaptation of The Storm Clan, the comic book created by Dallas Jackson and Joe Casey, which marks the first title from Jackson’s new company DJ Classicz Comix.
Jackson and Casey will pen the script, with former Lionsgate exec Jorge Alfaro to serve as an EP.
A sci-fi action adventure story, The Storm Clan watches as an ex-military weapons engineer trains his five adopted children to be undercover hi-tech/martial-arts thieves wearing an invincible bionic-body armor. Previously orphaned, the teenagers gifted with bionic technology see it provide them with the opportunity to protect themselves from the threats of the streets, also empowering them to take advantage of life instead of being taken advantage of, and most importantly, giving them comfort and sense of belonging within a family.
“It’s been a dream come true to bring my first comic IP “The Storm-Clan” to life with Marvel/DC legend Joe Casey,” said Jackson in a statement to Deadline. “Together we’ve created a GRITTY high-tech world that not only combines teen issues with a unique family dynamic but an IP that organically translates to a film franchise that will appeal to audiences worldwide! Having two unique rockstar creatives like Peter and Caleeb come aboard not only validates what we’ve created but together will take The Storm Clan to a commercial level I could’ve never imagined.”
Most recently, Jackson wrote and directed crime actioner The System, starring Tyrese Gibson, Terrence Howard, Jeremy Piven and Lil Yachty, which was released in theaters by The Avenue in October 2022. Prior to that, he made his directorial debut as the co-writer, director and producer of the Blumhouse slasher Thriller, released on Netflix in 2019.
Known for comics like Uncanny X-Men and Adventures of Superman, Casey co-created Cartoon Network’s animated series Ben 10, as part of the writing collective Man of Action.
Ramsey won an Oscar as co-director of Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and is an executive producer on the acclaimed 2023 sequel Across the Spider-Verse, which is currently up for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Other directing credits for Ramsey include Disney+’s Ahsoka and The Mandalorian, Netflix’s Lost Ollie and We the People, and DreamWorks’ Rise of the Guardians. Additionally, he exec produced Hair Love, which won the Oscar for Best Animated Short in 2020.
Emmy-nominated for his work as exec producer of Netflix’s Cobra Kai, Pinkett is currently shooting the series’ sixth season. His other producing credits include Sony’s Life in a Year, starring Jaden Smith and Cara Delevingne; Angel Manuel Soto’s Sundance prize winner Charm City Kings; Minhal Baig’s Hala; Will Gluck’s 2014 take on Annie starring Beasts of the Southern Wild‘s Quvenzhané Wallis; M. Night Shyamalan’s After Earth; and the TNT series Hawthorne.
The Storm Clan IP and Jackson are represented by IAG and Zero Gravity Management. Casey is repped by Scott Agostoni Management; Ramsey by Verve and Weintraub Tobin Chediak; and Pinkett by CAA.
