John Woo and Machinima Launch Animated Series ‘Seven Brothers’

Filmmaker John Woo has teamed up with Machinima to adapt his graphic novel Seven Brothers into an animated online series.

Woo, who is known for his Hong Kong action films Hard-Boiled and The Killer, and American films Face/Off and Mission: Impossible 2, will be premiering the first four episodes of Seven Brothers exclusively on Machinima’s YouTube channel.

The series is written by Garth Ennis (Preacher), drawn by Jeevan J. Kang (Spider Man: India) and produced in association with Liquid Comics and Tiger Hill Entertainment.

“For me, working in comics is quite comfortable – it’s like the ultimate storyboard. The original Seven Brothers graphic novel, and this new animated comic book series, takes the seed of an idea I had about famous Chinese folklore to a whole new level.  It creates a modern, global story, and an art form that is unique and yet, clearly, a brother to the film medium,” Woo said.

“We at Machinima are excited to partner with the Liquid team and world-class action directors like John Woo,” said Allen DeBevoise, Chairman and CEO of Machinima. “Because of the strong overlap between the worlds of video gaming and comics, Machinima was the natural distribution outlet for this high-octane animated series.”

Seven Brothers tells the story of how, six hundred years ago, long before history’s great explorers stole the credit for their feats, mighty Chinese treasure fleets set sail to reach every continent. These voyages of discovery left behind an evil legacy and a plot by a powerful Chinese sorcerer to dominate the world. Now, in modern day Los Angeles, an ancient prophecy must be fulfilled and seven men, with nothing in common but their destinies, must face the Son of Hell to save the world.