Here’s a bit of an odd one. The Hollywood Reporter is saying that top franchise Buffy The Vampire Slayer is set for a new big screen outing. While that might sound like great news, at the moment Joss Whedon isn’t involved as the project is being set up by Vertigo Entertainment, who are working with Kuzui Enterprises, owners to the rights of the 1992 movie on which the popular TV series was based (Fran Rubel Kuzui directed the movie and also helped setting up its funding.
It would mean the new film coulldn’t use popular characters such as Angel, Willow, Xander and Spike, although the producers are apparently keen not to trample all over the complex universe Joss Whedon created on TV. It’s been mooted that they may do this by moving onto a new vampire slayer, using the same premise as the film and TV series, but transplanting it to all new characters.
At the moment no studio is attached to the project, with pre-production in its earliest stages. Producers are said to be meeting with writers and hearing takes on the film, with the plan to create a darker, event movie out of the premise. Whether it ever comes to fruition is another matter, and there’s little doubt that unless they get Whedon on board, there could be a massive backlash from fans.