Sony Pictures Giving ‘Sabrina The Teenage Witch’ A Superhero Makeover

[Morg]

EXCLUSIVE: Sabrina The Teenage Witch is getting a makeover at Sony Pictures. The precocious teen witch who originated in 60s Archie Comics, is being recast as a superhero. The live action film will be an origin story in the vein of Spider-Man, about a young girl coming to terms with her remarkable powers.

Scribes Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari (they wrote Die In A Gunfight for MRC) will write the script, and Real Steel producers Don Murphy and Susan Montford are producing. Mark Waters, who worked on the presentation that Sony Pictures sparked to, might direct depending on scheduling. Archie Comics’ Jon Goldwater will be executive producer and screenwriter Jeff Stockwell, who also worked on the presentation, will be co-producer.

Sabrina previously had been turned into animated tv series in 1969, 1971 and again in 1999 and the source material was turned into the Melissa Joan Hart sitcom that ran seven seasons. While the tone of the movie will be edgier, they are keeping her talking black cat Salem, who here is a transformed prince creating unique love stories for Sabrina. The project is a priority for the studio with Doug Belgrad and Hannah Minghella fast tracking the negotiations.

“We mentioned it in a meeting to Amy Pascal who chimed in “I’m the little witch girl,’” Murphy and Montford said. “From then on we knew it was the right home.” They added that the popularity of the brand should allow for the studio to discover an actress for the Sabrina role. WME and Prolific rep Barrer & Ferrari

huh

 

[Micromind]

There goes the chance WB had to make a decent Captain Marvel ..Shazam movie with magical elements, a Wizard and a talking Tiger.

If they do make it after this one ... Critics will call it as We have already seen this before ...It looks derivative..

 

[Wesley Dodds]

Why does everythig have to be "edgy" these days?

 

[ThePowerCosmic]

Why does everythig have to be "edgy" these days?

If they really wanna make it edgy here's what they need to do:

[YT]GH69_RUCwSA[/YT]

[YT]pYA_hIRlLCY[/YT]

[YT]osMZXTCOT7c[/YT]

 

[Airwings]

I would like to see Sabrina and Buffy working together.
I know it's impossible because they can't go serious with Sabrina or have a funny Buffy.

 

[Thundarr]

I would like to see Sabrina and Buffy working together.
I know it's impossible because they can't go serious with Sabrina or have a funny Buffy.

Really? Because I've seen every episode of Buffy, and they were all pretty funny (even the more serious episodes). Xander's jokes, Buffy's puns, Spike's insults, etc. So why not make Sabrina more serious?

 

[Picard Sisko]

Off the bat it sounds kind of lame, but I will give this a chance. Won't judge anything till I see a trailer.

 

[Octoberist]

Not sure about the movie, but I was totally into this show too! And Clarissa Explains It All was my absolute favorite show when I was a kid and taking up acting lessons nyc! I remember wanting to have hair and clothes exactly like her in first grade, haha.

At first I thought you're legit until i read the rest of your comments; it's spam, just plugging in that website. Clever, though.

 

[Lord]

I wouldn't mind another tv show, but they shouldn't make Sabrina edgy or gritty

 

[Airwings]

Really? Because I've seen every episode of Buffy, and they were all pretty funny (even the more serious episodes). Xander's jokes, Buffy's puns, Spike's insults, etc. So why not make Sabrina more serious?

Dude, do you really have the opinion that Buffy and Sabrina are just the same?
Buffy isn't "Sabrina-funny", Buffy isn't a light-hearted sitcom, Buffy is darker and have violent fights and everything. Sabrina's only "action" is just laughable slap-stick.
Buffy will fit better off alongside Harry Potter than Sabrina. Sabrina is more off a "Epic Movie" kind of character, a parody.

 

[SpiderBat]

I love edgy and gritty. I was a big Sabrina fan. 'll watch this. Things are allowed to change.

 

[Baramos]

Archie comics? Can we get Sabrina meets the Punisher?

This seems like a studio looking for a cash-in on a recognizable name, not interested in actually adapting Sabrina the Teenage Witch, the movies and '90s sitcom of which were both full-blown comedies, not action movies.

 

[SpiderBat]

It could be like the complete opposite to Harry Potter. Just picture a darker, grown up Harry Potter movie.

 

[jonathancrane]

This is one of those artistic decisions that could be brilliant, like The Ultimates or really, really bad. Either way I will be seeing it.

 

[Baramos]

It could be like the complete opposite to Harry Potter. Just picture a darker, grown up Harry Potter movie.

Frankly the first Harry Potter movie/book is darker than the entirety of Sabrina. And the later ones have all the torture/murder, etc. I expect from any "adult" franchise. Never saw a whiff of that in Sabrina. In fact I spent my youth watching it on TGIF, home of Family Matters and Step-by-Step.

Like I said, they just want the name. The actual thing will probably have nothing to do with it other than the name of characters, such as the talking cat, or the aunts.

It's sad because I'm sure there are numerous other sorceress characters that could be used from the DC (Zatanna, anyone?) or Marvel stock of characters but none of them are famous enough to get instant recognition.

This is one of those artistic decisions that could be brilliant, like The Ultimates or really, really bad. Either way I will be seeing it.

I lean towards bad. It just looks like a quick cashgrab by Sony based on people sort of remembering something about this movie from 1996 or this kids' show called Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

 

[SpiderBat]

I could see Rob Zombie turning Sabrina into a gothic, adult themed horror movie. I'm surprised no-one has attempted it yet.

 

[Mike]

......no. they're giving sabrina the buffy/spidey treatment.

 

[The Question]

The pilot of the Sabrina TV show was actually a lot more quiet and serious than the show that followed. Like, it wasn't an action show and it wasn't super dark or anything, but it had a more grounded tone and was shot on location with a single camera. The show, however, was a three camera sitcom with a laugh track. So there's sort of precedent.

I would mind a Sabrina adaptation as an action comedy as long as it's done well. The source material is enough of a blank slate where it really doesn't matter what they do as long as the core elements remain.

Plus, Salem used to be a war lord and was always used for very tiny dashes of dark comedy, so that could integrate into a more supers inspired film pretty well.

 

[Baramos]

Saying Sabrina the Teenage Witch was enough of a blank slate that you could make it into anything means that when they make Archie and Jughead into the next Walter White and Jesse Pinkman you can't complain.

Not that I wouldn't watch Archie and Jughead sell crystal meth and dump bodies into hydrochloric acid. I'd watch that like hotcakes.