1947 crime novel ‘I, the Jury’ (made into a movie in 1953 and 1982) was sold in 3 million copies and launched Mickey Spillane’s career. Now Warner Bros. is teaming with Film 360 and Thunder to reboot the New York private detective Mike Hammer character that featured in Spillane’s 13 books beginning with the ‘I, The Jury’.

More a vigilante than a detective, Hammer was a hard-as-nails crime fighter who preferred to punch and shoot first and ask questions later, which exploits have also hit the big screen over the decades in films like My Gun is Quick, The Girl Hunters and Kiss Me Deadly.

Still, no stars are attached and writers are currently being courted to adapt a screenplay – some keeping Hammer in period mode, while others bringing him into the present.

The character of Hammer was said to be super influential on later tough guy detectives like Dirty Harry as well as...