File this in the “I Don’t Care” section of the news cycle as I didn’t enjoy the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie and never saw a single episode of the television show starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. I know saying such a thing in the online world is considered a sin as fanatics run about with their opinions, but considering my opinion is limited to just not caring and has no basis on anything the franchise is or was, I don’t think I have committed much of a sin.
Joss Whedon wrote the original film which starred Kristy Swanson, Donald Sutherland and Luke Perry and he then went on to take it from the big screen to television. However, as word surfaces of a reboot it doesn’t matter how involved Whedon was as The Hollywood Reporter says he won’t be involved this time around.
Roy Lee and Doug Davison of Vertigo Entertainment are working with original movie director Fran Rubel Kuzui and her husband, Kaz Kuzui, on what is being labeled a remake or relaunch of Buffy, but not a sequel or prequel. Kuzui and her Kuzui Enterprises have held onto the rights since the beginning, when she discovered the Buffy script from then-unknown Whedon. She developed the script while her husband put together the financing to make the 1992 movie, which was released by Fox. Kuzui would then work again with Whedon in bringing the show to television, but all that is in the past.
Word is the new film will have nothing at all to do with the show or previous film and won’t involve fan favorite characters from the Buffy-verse such as Angel, Willow, Xander or Spike. The idea is to take a fresh look at the franchise, a la what Paramount did with Star Trek. Strangely enough, Paramount was relaunching a 40+ year-old franchise, not a 17-year-old one. A bit of a difference if you ask me.
The new film is being approached with the idea of turning it into a franchise (obviously) and the premise is that each generation has its own vampire slayer to protect it. The goal is to make a darker, event-sized movie.
