The Spirit

The Spirit is a 1987 American made-for-television action-adventure film based on the comic book character The Spirit by Will Eisner. The film went through a 10 year development cycle when producer Paul Aratow acquired the rights to the character in the mid 70s and began development on a TV movie adaptation to be produced and directed by William Friedkin for NBC as a pilot for an ongoing television series until development stalled in 1980. After an attempt at an animated film version produced by Gary Kurtz and directed by Brad Bird also died in development, Aratow reacquired the rights and set up the pilot at ABC with director Michael Schultz and writer Steven E. de Souza. While initially intended as pilot for an ongoing television series for ABC's 1986 Fall Schedule, a change in management saw the pilot shelved until the producers managed to circulate a petition at the 1986 San Diego Comic-Con with several prominent signatories convincing ABC to air the pilot albeit with muted promotion and no chance of a series pickup.