Archie, Jughead and Co. Headed To The Big Screen

[Sawyer]

http://www.deadline.com/2013/06/arc...guirre-sacasa-to-write-jason-moore-to-direct/

Archie Comics Movie Deal Set At Warner Bros: High School Comedy With Zombies? Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa To Write, Jason Moore To Direct, Roy Lee-Dan Lin Producing
By NIKKI FINKE AND MIKE FLEMING JR

EXCLUSIVE… UPDATE: Archie? Betty? Veronica? Jughead? Zombie? Just when Hollywood thinks it’s heard it all comes our news that Warner Bros Pictures last night just closed all deals for a WME-packaged live-action movie based on Archie Comics. Producing are Roy Lee and Dan Lin, and Jon Goldwater, Krishnan Menon, and Jon Silk are executive producers. Jason Moore (Pitch Perfect) has signed on to direct while Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Glee) is writing. Sources tell us that the screenplay envisions a “high school comedy based on the original line of Archie Comics set in present-day Riverdale.” But earlier this year scribe Aguirre-Sacasa signed on to write a new line of the venerable Archie Comics with a peculiar way into their adventures: flesh-eating zombies! Aguirre-Sacasa helped fix the troubled Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark and scripted the upcoming remake of Carrie that stars Chloe Moretz and Julianne Moore. But his “Afterlife With Archie” ponders a zombie apocalypse in suburban New York. It isn’t replacing the usual Archie Comics, just supplementing them. So we find it hard to believe that zombies won’t play a role in the new movie somehow. Aguirre-Sacasa told Deadline’s Mike Fleming in March that the new comic line “combines two of my great passions: Archie comics and horror comics.” This series came out of the scribe’s conversations with Archie creator/publisher/editor John L. Goldwater, “asking questions like, ‘What if the Archie characters found themselves in a Stephen King novel like The Stand or a Sam Raimi movie like The Evil Dead? Could we pull that off, tonally? We’re really going for it. The first arc is called ‘Escape From Riverdale’. The second arc is called, brace yourself, ‘Betty RIP’.” He said the comic books’ gore will be balanced with “elements that are quintessentially Archie”. Now Warner Bros Pictures is behind Aguirre-Sacasa taking Archie Comics to the Big Screen for the very first time. He also wrote a four-part Archie Meets Glee comic series, so this guy is steeped in Riverdale lore.

“We’re thrilled with the team that Warner Bros, Dan and Roy have put together here,” said Archie Comics publisher/co-CEO Jon Goldwater. “Roberto has become a prolific comics writer for us, and having Jason Moore is the icing on the cake as Pitch Perfect is one of my favorite movies.” How, in the digital age, has a 72-year-old wholesome comic franchise inspired by the Andy Hardy movies managed to stay relevant (it’s the largest and most widely read comic in the world, he said, with 40-50 different books published each month)? “Archie has remained extremely competitive enough to be a trend setter in contemporary comic books,” Goldwater said. “We were the first to introduce a gay character into the storyline, and that was an incredible success. We’ve had different comics where Archie was married to Betty in one and Veronica in another. And the Archie Meets Glee was also a big success. But the core, the characters and Riverdale, remains part of the fabric of classic Americana.”

Archie has thrice been an animated TV series (1968, 1970, 1999). In the early 1970s, a live-action TV special of Archie characters aired and in 1990 a TV movie.

It's hardly a comic company I keep up with, but I'll be very interested to see how this turns out. Casting is key... I say they reverse the genders and cast Jane Levy as Archie.

 

[zeroapoc]

LOL. Nice casting.

Really not sure how relevant it is now though. Could turn out like Fat Albert.

 

[Hypestyle]

i hope that the filmmakers remember to keep in mind the fun and all-ages spirit of the original comics. There's no need to make the characters foul-mouthed, take it into a drugs/gangs plot or to shoehorn in a violent action sequence in the climax. At the same time, there's no need to go for "Brady Bunch" parody either, with the primary characters as glaring caricatures interacting with all of the "normal" kids of Riverdale.

 

[Lex Luthor]

I've had an affinity for the Archie characters ever since I can remember, and occasionally pick up the digest editions (last Archie comics I purchased was the marriage scenario with Veronica/Betty), so I'm interested. However, there is a question on if Archie and friends can actually be satisfyingly transitioned from comic book to film and be worthwhile.

 

[Pink Ranger]

I don't care how they do it, as long as they get Toby Jones to play Mr. Weatherbee.

 

[Sawyer]

 

[Breogan]

It'll be hard to top this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=WhtFX9iREcU#t=5s

 

[Teelie]

Archie versus zombies... I guess they had to do something to spice up this comic adaptation to make it stand out from every other movie with the same premise as Archie.

 

[Sawyer]

I'm not sure I buy the Archie vs. Zombies thing. It's literally all speculation on the part of Deadline, just based on the fact that the screenwriter wrote a comic with a similar premise. He also wrote an Archie/Glee crossover, but I don't think that's proof it'll be a musical.

 

[Teelie]

I am kind of hoping they do. It'll combine two increasingly over-done tropes into one.

 

[Hypestyle]

keep archie's jalopy intact.

 

[Ultimatehero]

I seriously seriously hope there are no zombies in this. Do that with another original character, but why mess with a classic comic to some people by making the film opposite of what drew people to the comics? (Which I'm guessing is the teenaged drama and romance?)

 

[Sawyer]

Well, Archie's Weird Mysteries was awesome, but...

 

[Majik1387]

Something tells me this will be more in tone with the musical Zombie Prom than any current horror or zombie movies. At darkest maybe like Warm Bodies, but I don't even see it going that dark.

 

[Sawyer]

I still call bull**** on the zombie part, though. It's a bad guess that Nikki Finke and her guys are masquerading as fact.

 

[Wolfwood]

Yeah, there's no way this will be about zombies...as much as I would love that. While the writer did do horror movies, they're glossing over the fact that he has worked on Glee and that the director did a comedy musical as well. If anything it's more likely that this will be a high school comedy focusing on Archie and his friends when they created that band.

 

[Teelie]

A relief, I guess?

[...]it was at a breakfast meeting for the ‘Archie’ movie, which is going to be a straight-up teen movie.

It’s Archie’s coming-of-age story. Hopefully, it will be the ‘Archie’ movie people have been anticipating for 70-plus years. And here’s a tidbit: Expect to see fan-favorites Cheryl Blossom and Kevin Keller in it, in very prominent ways.”

Mary Sue

 

[Lex Luthor]

Sure. Sounds like a more worthwhile adaptation than the Archie/Zombies idea. Which was just as out of left field as Archie/Punisher (think I would even vote for the latter if it actually came down between those two choices).

 

[Whiskey Tango]

Haven't read an Archie comic since I was a kid but I read a LOT of them when I did. Glad they aren't going with the dumbass zombie idea (although I wouldn't sneer at a Brady Bunch-style parody *IF* the right creative people were involved).

Still, a genuine attempt at a simple teen movie without any lame gimmicks is a worthy goal. Will be following this with some interest.

 

[nogap87]

If it leads to Archie getting another cartoon than I'm all for a movie.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

Jon Goldwater On Archie's Plans For A "John Hughes-ian" Film

 

[Pink Ranger]

Dear Mr. Weatherbee,

We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you're crazy to make an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us ... In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is an inexplicably popular ginger, a spoiled rich girl, a weirdo with a cut-hat, a smug *****e, and a token blonde.

Does that answer your question? ... Sincerely yours, the Archies.

 

[terry78]

Yes, I have been waiting for this. I used to read these damn books all the time when i was little....for the stories of course, not the constant bikini shots.

 

[Sawyer]

They're going to have to really nail the casting for me to believe that a brunette HBIC and the cute blonde next door are going to be hung up over a nerdy, cardigan-wearing ginger.

 

[sueb1863]

Anybody here ever read the classic MAD magazine Archie parody from the 60s, 'Starchie Standrews'? It's pretty funny..

I watched the Archie's America cartoons on Saturday mornings in the early 70s and read several of their comics. Our church had the Christian-themed ones. I distinctly remember the Robin Hood parody they did, and the story where Reggie almost died from food poisoning...

I'm pretty skeptical that they can turn this into a live action movie. What living human being looks like Jughead??