Platinum Studios Inc. chairman Scott Mitchell Rosenberg and producer Mark Canton (300, Immortals) announced today that they are immediately putting the Platinum Studios comic book Atlantis Rising into development for a new, ongoing film franchise. Atlantis Rising is just one of the titles in Platinum Studios' international library of thousands of comic book characters which it adapts, produces, and licenses for all forms of media.

Created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, Atlantis Rising was first published as a five-issue mini-series that had been previously optioned to DreamWorks. Platinum Studios recently regained the production rights, allowing them to reboot the series and to team up with Canton. The film is set against an undersea civilization that began over 10,000 years ago, and whose presence is unknown to the surface population.

"'Atlantis Rising' has the franchise potential of 'Men in Black,' which I green lit for Scott while at Sony's Columbia Tristar Motion Picture Companies," says Mark Canton. "I'm looking forward to bringing it to the screen with Platinum as a dynamic, state of the art action thriller."

Canton, who is chairman and CEO of Atmosphere Entertainment, has been on the Platinum Studios' board of directors since 2010. Atmosphere Entertainment's recent films include Relativity's Immortals which has grossed over $210 million in worldwide box office sales; Warner Bros.' 300, based on the best-selling graphic novel by Frank Miller; and The Spiderwick Chronicles, based upon the best-selling book series, for Paramount Pictures.

"'Atlantis Rising' is a provocative sci-fi thriller that at its core brings up the question: whose planet is this?" adds Scott Rosenberg. "We hope to duplicate that achievement after the enormous success of the 'Men in Black' franchise."