Phoenix, Arizona – Emmy-winner Andy Rodriguez-McCradic is set to bring another popular comic book character to life as an action-adventure film this summer. The movie, a 1940s-styled action-adventure set in the present day, is entitled “Paula Peril: Midnight Is the Darkest Hour” and is expected to premiere at the San Diego Comic Con this July.

“This is a first for us,” says Rodriguez-McCradic, “I have created at least five superhero characters for live-action comic books that are selling well worldwide, but Paula Peril is our first foray into something that is not based in Arizona, nor based on a superheroine. We’re looking forward to working with Atlantis Studios and the San Diego Film Commission to put this one together.”

“Paula Peril: Midnight Is the Darkest Hour” retells the origin story of Paula Perillo, an intrepid reporter for Big City’s Daily Gazette with a nose for stirring up trouble, and attracting plenty of it. She’s on the trail of crime lord Anthony Carleoni, a tough guy who made it out of the old neighborhood the old fashioned way: through crime and intimidation. He has a knack for breaking skulls and organizing people around him with equal ability. Paula finds that Carleoni is taking control of the Pier District, and goes after the story, but soon learns that taking on organized crime can be extremely dangerous. Paula is rivaled by society reporter Veronica Vilencourt, assisted by hunky photographer Jimmy Smith, directed by Big City Daily Gazette editor Slim Jackson, and aided by a strange, shadow-like informant whose identity is unknown.

Rodriguez-McCradic’s production group, New Phoenix Filmworks, will lens this production, his fifteenth movie, on location in San Diego. Some interiors may be shot at the 7,000 square foot New Phoenix Filmworks studio in North Phoenix. The first unit team will be made up of San Diego and Los Angeles based filmmakers. Administration will be based out of the New Phoenix Filmworks offices.

This film will be the second time Paula Peril has made the jump from comics to film. Recently a seven-minute short was self-produced by Atlantis Studios, but creator James Watson decided to license the character to develop the next chapter in Paula’s adventures.

“The comic book series has enthusiastic fans who are eager to see more of Paula Peril on film, but we lack the resources to do it right”, said Watson, “Andy has proven experience in bringing attractive, strong heroines to life on film, in well-structured, extremely interesting storylines worthy of any Hollywood production.”

“Paula Peril: Midnight Is the Darkest Hour ‘ will be teleplay length, between 30-45 minutes, and will be distributed through both New Phoenix Filmworks partners and Atlantis Studios and its partners. It will be available in direct-to-home video and comic book stores nationwide and internationally.

About New Phoenix Filmworks:

New Phoenix Filmworks is Arizona’s leading indy movie maker with sales in 29 countries on five continents, and distribution agreements in Tokyo, Los Angeles, Baltimore and Amsterdam. Rodriguez-McCradic is “the godfather” of Arizona indy filmmaking. He has employed approximately 250 Arizonans since 1993. New Phoenix Filmworks has specialized in live action comic books on DVD since that time, his first movie, Darkfury was the first film in Arizona history to acquire national and international distribution and is still selling to this day. His other titles include the time-manipulating superhero RetroGirl, a five-part series, PowerCat, a 3-part series and Black Talon, a 2 part series. Each production is a sexy take on comic book style super females, geared towards a more sophisticated comic book audience.

About Atlantis Studios:

Atlantis Studios is a Georgia-based sequential arts studio specializing in comics and graphic novels for science fiction, fantasy, and action-adventure licensed properties. Since its creation in 1997, Atlantis Studios has created, published, or produced over 120 published works, many of them developed exclusively for clients in the film and television industry. Most recently, Atlantis published the official graphic novel adaptation of the “Librarian: Return to King Solomon’s Mines,” the original film produced by Dean Devlin’s Electric Entertainment.

The Adventures of Paula Peril was developed originally in 1997 as the brainchild of Atlantis Studios owner and CEO James Watson. Originally, the comic was a fun diversion from the daily grind of work-for-hire projects. “I was looking to develop an action-packed series that mixed the sexy tradition of pulps with the genre of teen sleuths like Nancy Drew, and giving the whole thing a modern twist.” says creator Watson, “The result has been phenomenal success. Since debuting in February 2006, Paula Peril has consistently been our best-selling title, both nationally and internationally, and fans are looking for more.”

For more information on New Phoenix Filmworks, visit their website.

For more information on Atlantis Studios, or Paula Peril artwork and characters, go to their website.