The rumors of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie — without any input from Joss Whedon — are true. A press release says writer Whit Anderson has an exciting new take on the character. Be very scared.
Here's the official press release:
LOS ANGELES, NOVEMBER 11, 2010 – Atlas Entertainment announced today it is rebooting the beloved franchise, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with Warner Bros. Pictures. Atlas' Charles Roven and Steve Alexander will produce the feature film alongside Doug Davison and Roy Lee of Vertigo Entertainment (The Ring, How to Train Your Dragon, The Departed). Whit Anderson is writing the script.
Warner Bros. Pictures optioned the rights from creators Fran and Kaz Kuzui, and from Sandollar Productions (Sandy Gallin and Dolly Parton), for Atlas and Vertigo to produce. Buffy the Vampire Slayer first appeared as a film in 1992, subsequently becoming a cult hit and spawning the wildly popular television series starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz, among many others.
"Whit approached us with an exciting idea about how to update Buffy," said Roven. "There is an active fan base eagerly awaiting this character's return to the big screen. We're thrilled to team up with Doug and Roy on a re-imagining of Buffy and the world she inhabits. Details of the film are being kept under wraps, but I can say while this is not your high school Buffy, she'll be just as witty, tough, and sexy as we all remember her to be."
Not your High School Buffy huh? We have no idea what that could mean, soccer Mom Buffy? Space Cadet Buffy? College drop-out Buffy? (Oh no wait, we had that once already). We're not sure what to think.
In an interview with the LA Times Anderson listed Chris Nolan's Batman as a "supreme example of how a familiar character and revered mythology can be brought to the big screen with a vital new vision." That is true, but wasn't Whedon's Buffy already pretty damn dark, gritty, heartwarming and realistic while fighting vampires? Call us highly skeptical, but this reboot might be a little too soon for our tastes. But then again the script isn't done and there still isn't any director attached, so things could change dramatically overnight.
The producer, Charles Roven, also told the Times that he hopes to see the film reach theaters in 2012 or perhaps even 2011. So it doesn't sound like Anderson has a lot of breathing room for rewrites.