Twentieth Century Fox, Robert Voets/UPNBlame Robert Pattinson. And, for that matter, Captain Kirk.
What with vampires and franchise relaunches suddenly all the rage, plans for a new Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie have inevitably come to pass, with the rights holders of the franchise announcing plans for a new Sunnydale-set film.
But there is a catch.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film, which will neither be a sequel nor prequel but a relaunch, is moving ahead with absolutely no involvement from film and series mastermind Joss Whedon. It will also fail to feature TV's Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and will in fact have no connection to the long-running series—meaning Angel, Willow, Xander and Spike will also be MIA.
That sound you just heard was the Whedonverse imploding.
The brain boxes behind the already fan-angering remake are Fran Rubel Kuzui, the director of the 1992 box-office bomb (which starred Kristy Swanson as the titular slayer abetted by Luke Perry), and her husband, Kaz Kuzui. Kuzui Enterprises has retained the rights to the franchise since their ill-fated film outing.
The idea behind the new reboot is to maintain the show's mythology while introducing a new slayer and Hellmouth-threatened group of pals, building on the idea that each generation has its own vampire slayer.
If all goes according to plan—and it's shaping up to be a rather large if—Kuzui is looking to franchise the film.
As for Whedon, he has yet to comment on the film's development. While Kuzui said they have not ruled out inviting cult king Whedon—still very much active in the Buffyverse, having shepherded several Buffy comic books to best-seller status in recent years—to take part in the film, they have not yet spoken to him about their plans.
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