Gerard McMurray shopping award-winning Crescent City Monsters to movie studios

Comic book publisher Dream Fury Comics announced that director, Gerard McMurray, will be shopping award-winning Crescent City Monsters to movie studios.

Independent comic book publisher Dream Fury Comics announced that director of The First Purge, Gerard McMurray, will be shopping Glyph Comics Award-winning and Ringo Awards Nominee Crescent City Monsters to movie studios and television networks. The comic books series, Crescent City Monsters, is written by Newton Lilavois and illustrated by Gian Carlo Bernal.

Crescent City Monsters follows a blues musician and sorcerer, Jonas Atelus, as he struggles to find out why a supernatural bounty was put on his head. As Jonas tries to unravel this mystery, the monsters of New Orleans destroy his life while trying to collect on the bounty and attempt to uncover another mystery- the secret power Jonas holds. Crescent City Monsters blends voodoo lore and other otherworldly magic culminating into what Lilavois calls Creole Magic.

“Crescent City Monsters takes place in New Orleans and since Gerard is a New Orleans native, I thought that was important in terms of getting an authentic feel for the project.”

– Newton Lilavois

When McMurray read Crescent City Monsters, he immediately connected to the story and contacted Lilavois. After their first meeting, Lilavois felt McMurray had a deep appreciation for the story. “I’m impressed with the content of Gerard’s body of work. Plus, Crescent City Monsters takes place in New Orleans and since Gerard is a New Orleans native, I thought that was important in terms of getting an authentic feel for the project,” said Newton. McMurray intends to write and direct the feature. McMurray is excited about the project. “I think Crescent City Monsters is going to really be a dope, cool project,” McMurray says.

After Jordan Peele introduced Get Out to the world, there’s been an increased demand for black narrative in the horror genre. With movie and television deals based on comic book series like Bitter Root and Killadelphia, the list of horror movies and television shows created by black writers continues to grow. Crescent City Monsters will be joining that list soon.

About Gerard McMurray
Gerard McMurray is a Filmmaker from the 7th Ward of New Orleans. McMurray is a graduate of Howard University and USC Film School’s MFA program. Gerard collaborated with Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan and Forest Whitaker as a Producer on the hit indie film Fruitvale Station.

McMurray’s first film as a Director, Burning Sands is a Netflix Original that premiered in competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival to great critical response. His sophomore film, The First Purge is the fourth installment in the hugely successful series depicting the origin story of The Purge franchise. It was released by Universal Pictures on July 4, 2018, becoming the most commercially successful film of the franchise.

Gerard has since directed THE TWILIGHT ZONE – REPLAY, for Oscar Winner Jordan Peele, starring Sanaa Lathan. Currently, he is writing and directing the action franchise THE SILVER BEAR for Lionsgate starring Michael B. Jordan. Gerard is also co-writing and directing BOOKER with John Wick Creator/Writer Derek Kolstad for Sony Pictures with John Davis producing. Finally, Gerard is Directing/Executive Producing a series version of THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR with Lee Daniels for FX.

About Newton Lilavois
Newton Lilavois is the Chief Creative Officer and founder of Dream Fury Comics. Lilavois created Dream Fury Comics with the goal of publishing comic books focused on black lead characters. Crescent City Monsters is the first title published by Dream Fury Comics. Lilavois won the 2020 Glyph Award for Best Writer for Crescent City Monsters. Newton is currently working on another horror comic book series called KISHA Demon Eater that’s based in the Crescent City Monsters world.

About Gian Carlo Bernal
Gian Carlo Bernal is an artist and lives in the Philippines with his son and wife. In 2014 after 11 years as a graphic designer, he left his job to become a comic book illustrator. He’s never looked back. Gian has drawn for other Kickstarter comic book campaigns, such as the Last Days of Kevin and Ronin. He’s been quoted as saying “And now I am happy to be working on Crescent City Monsters. I will draw until I die, my body rots, and I will come back as a zombie and draw comics again.” Gian is the winner of the 2020 Glyph Comic Book Best Artist Award and a 2021 Ringo Award Nominee for Best Cover Artist.

About Crescent City Monsters
Crescent City Monsters has been amassing a cult following since March 2017 when it started off as a webcomic. A recent Kickstarter campaign raised over $31,000 to fund the printing of the trade paperback. Crescent City Monsters won the 2020 Glyph Award Fan Award For Best Work and Best Cover. The series is also a 2021 Ringo Award Nominee for Best Presentation in Design.