In what promises to be the highest grossing Edgar Wright (and lowest grossing Johnny Depp) movie of all time, Disney is remaking the 1970s TV hit The Night Stalker into a feature film.
The original TV movie/series was about a Chicago newspaper reporter, Carl Kolchak (played by Darren McGaven), who investigates unsolved mysteries and crimes that end up having been perpetrated with vampires, werewolves, aliens and other supernatural beings, which is why it makes sense that Disney wants it. They’re getting it cheap/easy because it used to be an ABC show, so it makes sense and everyone’s happy.
According to Deadline, Edgar Wright is set to direct the feature and has agreed (but has not yet been confirmed) to helm the entire project, meaning he’ll get to write it as well since they haven’t hired anyone to do that yet.
The entire project was originally Depp’s idea, and with Edgar Wright’s whimsical directing style and amazing grasp of the best parts of sci-fi, fantasy and the supernatural, this movie should actually be watchable. And hey, maybe it’ll lead to another awesome franchise so that Disney can keep Johnny Depp locked up in a dungeon for another decade.
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It will be a family-friendly, PG-13 film most likely targeted at Disney’s regular wheelhouse of “everybody who doesn’t hate happiness”.
The film has a tentative release of 2014 according to IMDb.