Gravel

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Legendary Pictures plans to delve into the world of the occult with "Gravel," picking up the rights to the comicbook series created by Warren Ellis and published by Avatar Press.

Project revolves around the character William Gravel, a soldier in the British S.A.S. who uses his skills in dark magic to moonlight and battle supernatural beings for clients in order to make some extra cash.

Ellis introduced the character in a 1999 limited series of graphic novels published under the title "Strange Kiss."

He will pen the initial draft of the screenplay for the pic and serve as executive producer on the project.

Rick Alexander, who is a producer on "Executive Vice President of Fairyland" at MGM, will produce with Legendary, which is readying to unspool "Where the Wild Things Are" through Warner Bros.

Ellis, behind the comicbooks "Planetary" and "Transmetropolitan," also created "Red," currently in pre-production at Summit Entertainment, and "Ocean," in development at Warner Bros.

Legendary is currently shooting "Inception," "Sucker Punch," "Jonah Hex" and the remake of "Clash of the Titans" at WB, and is developing a bigscreen version of "Warcraft," with Sam Raimi helming. They've also been behind the Chris Nolan Batman movies, Watchmen, and Superman Returns.