Clive Barker sells film rights to action figures

Variety reports that Universal Pictures has set a mid six-figure deal with out horror writer Clive Barker and Spawn creator Todd McFarlane for the film rights to "Clive Barker's Tortured Souls--Animae Damnatae," a line of action figures released by McFarlane Toys. The Tortured Souls figures went on sale in July and promptly sold out. The six characters--Talisac, Lucidique, Scythe-Meister, Agonistes, Mongroid, and Venal Anatomica--were each sold with a chapter of an original story by Barker; the chapters of the complete set form a novella that will be the basis for the treatment that Barker is writing. Universal will pay the two creators a total of more than $2 million if the project goes into production.