Draft:Silver Surfer (film)

Silver Surfer is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is intended to be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

After several early attempts to create a Silver Surfer film, the character was first introduced in 20th Century Fox's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007). Fox attempted to give the character a spin-off film, but the project did not move forward. Following the failure of the 2015 Fantastic Four film, Fox's attempts to reinvent the franchise led to new development on a standalone Silver Surfer film. Marvel Studios gained control of the project in March 2019 following the acquisition of Fox by Disney.

Cast

 * Norrin Radd / Silver Surfer

Development
Following the critical success of his 1992 film Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino approached Constantin Film with a script for a film based on the Marvel Comics character Silver Surfer, which Constantin held the film rights to. Constantin refused to green light the film, believing that it was impossible to make. Marvel and effect house Industrial Light & Magic also held this belief. By that time, film school students Erik Fleming and Steven Robiner, both fans of the comics character, believed that a potential film based on the Silver Surfer was possible with new developments in computer animation such as the visual effects used in the film The Abyss (1989). They had a model of the character, primarily based on his appearances in 1980s comics, created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, which they then digitized and animated using software at the University of Southern California (USC). Marvel and Constantin were impressed with their work, and gave the students permission to make a short film with the character, but expressed doubt that it would be successful. With a script by Jeff Eastin and Fleming directing, they created the short film for less than $3000 which included donations from companies interested in the new technology being utilized. It then took a year-and-a-half to hand-animate the Silver Surfer into the live-action footage. During the making of the short, Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) was released, featuring a similar animated character; the students believed that their character was more sophisticated than the one in that film. The response to the short from Marvel and Constantin was positive, but the group did not have the rights to the short film, with USC claiming ownership of the film in exchange for helping them create it. With the short being shown at festivals by USC in 1991, major studios became interested in producing a feature-length Silver Surfer film, with "A-list" creatives preferred over the students.

20th Century Fox was developing a Silver Surfer film by May 2000, with Chris Columbus being looked at to direct. Andrew Kevin Walker was writing a script for the film by that July. The character ultimately appeared as an antagonist-turned-hero in the 2007 film Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, a sequel to Fox's 2005 film Fantastic Four. The Silver Surfer was portrayed on-set by Doug Jones in a rubber suit, which was replaced with a digital version of the character by Weta Digital. Laurence Fishburne voiced the character. By July 2007, Fox had begun developing a spin-off film from Rise of the Silver Surfer focused on the Silver Surfer, and J. Michael Straczynski was soon hired to write a script; the spin-off began where Rise of the Silver Surfer ended, and explored the past of the Silver Surfer while depicting a more comic-accurate version of the villain Galactus than the one seen in Rise of the Silver Surfer. In May 2008, Straczynski was unsure if the film would still be made, especially because of its connections to the poorly-received Rise of the Silver Surfer. After the critical and commercial failure of the 2015 Fantastic Four film, Fox began looking at "various angles" to take the franchise rather than just making another Fantastic Four film. This was a primary focus for the studio, alongside the continuation of the X-Men film series, leading to the development of several "secret" projects, and in February 2018, Brian K. Vaughn was revealed to have been writing the screenplay for a new, standalone Silver Surfer film.

By December 2018, after working with Marvel Studios on the script for Ant-Man (2015), Adam McKay stated that he was willing to work with the studio again and that the one film he personally wanted to make was Silver Surfer, due to both the potential visuals and the character's comic book story; this was a possibility due to the impending acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, Marvel Studios' parent company. Several weeks later, McKay had already discussed the idea with Marvel and said the studio was excited about it. He reiterated his own excitement for the project, and said he might return to it "in a couple months" after he finished promoting his film Vice (2018). In March 2019, Disney officially acquired Fox and gained the film rights to several Marvel Comics characters for Marvel Studios, including Silver Surfer, while the Marvel-based films that Fox had been developing were placed "on hold". By that September, Marvel Studios was believed to be actively developing a Silver Surfer film. In April 2021, McKay said he was still interested in making a Silver Surfer film, but he was not able to when he spoke to Marvel about it due to related work already being done at the studio for the Fantastic Four franchise. He said that one of the reasons he wanted to make the film was because he felt he could easily turn it into an allegory for environmental issues.

Julia Garner was cast as Shalla-Bal / Silver Surfer in April 2024 for The Fantastic Four (2025). In the comics, Shalla-Bal is the love interest of original Silver Surfer Norrin Radd and eventually becomes a Silver Surfer herself.