Shortlist says there’s a live action adaptation of Archie being planned, but with a terrible comics-to-screen scriptwriter attached:
Anyone who is a fan of the classic Archie comics – or who fangirled over the Spider-Verse series – is about to get seriously excited, as a feature adaptation of the Archie comic books is officially in the world.
Universal Pictures is at the helm of the franchise adaptation, along with Spider-Verse producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.
There’s always a lot of pressure on the writers to make these adaptations meet the expectations of every nerd who’s already getting excited about them (it’s us, we’re the nerds), so it’s not surprising they’ve drafted an Eisner-winning comic book author. Tom King will be turning his hand to screenwriting, penning the script for the as-yet-untitled Archie movie. We currently don’t have any plot details for the film, though as these are being kept firmly under wraps – although anyone who is an avid fan will have some idea of the possible antics thanks to the comics.
Well this is very bad news alright, but surely not a surprise when you consider how woke the producers themselves already could’ve been. So it’s almost hilarious they’re lecturing us that the assigned screenplay scribes are pressed to make things meet expectations. Especially when the original comics were victimized as much as Marvel/DC have already been. But in the end, it’s not a funny matter at all, and with somebody like King at the helm, it’s bound to be even less funny indeed. What if the screenplay he brews up incorporates a lot of the contrived traumatic situations he already put in other mainstream comics he’s written?
It wouldn’t surprise me if any planned Archie film turns out to be a financial flop, and something tells me it’s unlikely to lead to more films for a teenage crowd, like there used to be up until possibly 15 years ago. Now, movies aimed at teens, last time I looked, were largely scarce, thanks to all the PC that’s ruined mainstream moviegoing today. With somebody as awful a writer as King assigned to develop a screenplay, it’d be best to stay away from this film project.
Update: when the Hollywood Reporter brought this news up, they said:
Archie Comics, over an 85-year history, has sold over three billion comics worldwide and retains a massive social media presence. The Archie gang debuted in 1941’s Pep Comics No. 22, and many of the publisher’s stories harken back to the idea of small-town Americana.
While historically Archie has not had sales that rival comic book giants Marvel and DC Comics, the property enjoys strong brand recognition thanks to decades of its comics being sold at grocery store checkout lines.
The sales figures may have made sense from a historical perspective, but today, they hardly sell much, and no better than Marvel/DC, with figures that can be in the low thousands (yet no clear sales figures are given from recent times), and do they still sell in grocery stores? I wouldn’t be shocked if they aren’t, if at all, considering how insular the medium became since the mid-90s, and comics were all but relegated to specialty stores. Let’s also not forget they’ve also degenerated into horror themes in recent years, and that too, along with divisive politics, has taken away from any entertainment value they may have once had. That the trade paper isn’t clear about that is unsurprising.
Originally published here
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