During an interview with Forbes ahead of the film adaptation’s upcoming 25th anniversary, creator and Dark Horse Comics founder Mike Richardson has suggested that a female-fronted reboot of the 1994 superhero comedy The Mask may be on the horizon.
“I’d like to see a really good physical comedian [in the role],” said Richardson. I have one in mind, but I’m not gonna say her name. We have to do a lot of convincing for this particular actor, but we’ll see … You never know what’s coming in the future. We have some ideas.”
Richardson went on to state that the reboot would be more in line with the darker tone of the comic books, as opposed to the light-hearted and comedic approach of the Jim Carrey movie:
“I’d like it to be another character film about a person dealing with absolute power. The whole theme of ‘The Mask’ was we all say what we would do if we had absolute power, just like Stanley Ipkiss. When we get absolute power, we often resort to the most petty of endeavors and it’s overcoming our human nature and using the power for good.”
The Mask made his comic book debut in the late 80s, and the 1994 feature film adaptation was a huge success, grossing over $350 million worldwide from a $23 million budget and cementing Jim Carrey as a Hollywood star. Much less successful however was the 2005 sequel Son of the Mask starring Jamie Kennedy, which was panned by fans and critics and tanked at the box office.