Should the Gargoyles Return To The Night?

In today's movies we see a return of pop culture from the past, be it a TMNT reboot, a new G.I. Joe movie and even a new Jurassic Park movie. Even Transformers was successful enough to get a fourth movie. So why have we not seen a Gargoyles movie yet? Is it even still relevant?

The Gargoyles originally aired back on October 24th 1994 and ran for three years. The Gargoyles began back in medieval Scotland where a band of nocturnal creatures known as Gargoyles lived alongside the humans until they were betrayed and those remaining were magically turned to stone. Centuries later the spell would be undone and the remaining 6 gargoyles found themselves in New York, befriended by a NYPD detective by the name of Elisa Maza.


Gargoyles has since gained a cult following of fans and although the cartoon series ended in 1997 the series did not die. In fact the franchise was picked up years later to be adapted into comic books, even by the likes of Marvel Comics. The comic line ended in 2008 by Slave Labor Comics when Disney's licensing fees became too high to renew.

So why have we not seen a Disney's Gargoyles movie yet? Personally I believe that the following is there and that even years later, children and new fans will pick up on it. Disney has generally focused it's movies around princesses; however Disney did announce in 2010 that they will move away from creating princess themed movies to aim for a wider appeal. Since then we have seen Disney make such purchases as Marvel Comics and most recently Lucasfilm.

What I see is that Disney has repositioned themselves to market to young and adolescent boys. Furthermore, Gargoyles does include a strong female protagonist in the form of Elisa Maza to offer a positive female role model for young girls as well.

So while the franchise hasn't seen any new material in the last 5 years, could it still be relevant? In today's pop culture we see movies take a bit of a darker tone, featuring vampire and werewolves (Twilight and Dark Shadows) and even have zombies on tv (The Walking Dead). We are embracing the supernatural and Gargoyles would fit very well into today's standards.

Now that we know that Gargoyles could be accepted today, how would it be done? Live action would just be a dream come true, to watch these massive beasts come to life from stone and fly above New York, but I think that the younger generation would be lost or frightened. The next step would simply be an animated feature to capture the same excitement but also the wonder from the younger crowd. With Disney already owning Pixar it might as well be a green light. Pixar has done wonders with Toy Story, or more fitting for the editorial, Monster's Inc.

Let's take a side step back over into the live action genre. Again, Disney is poised to be able to handle this kind of a movie. I would take that the Gargoyles would have to be done via CGI and motion capture with obvious voice overs. . I would also cast Naya Rivera from Glee. She definitely has the look and notoriety for the role.

So what do you think? Do the Gargoyles have what it takes to make it to the big screen? Or should the forever remain in stone?


-Nurd!