Archie Could Be Latest Comic Book Hero Headed for the Big Screen

Archie, who, at 72, may now be America’s oldest teenager, is headed to the big screen for the first time, at least if a new project at Warner Brothers proceeds as planned.

Warner earlier this week closed a deal for a live-action adaptation of the small-town adventures of Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead.

Jason Moore, best known for the high school musical comedy “Pitch Perfect,” has signed on to direct the project, which will be set in present-day Riverdale, while Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (“Glee” and the coming “Carrie” remake), is writing the script.

The fanboy corner of the Internet immediately lit up with speculation that the Warner film might come with a twist: Mr. Aguirre-Sacasa has already been working on a zombie-themed line of Archie comics called “Afterlife With Archie.” (Mr. Aguirre-Sacasa was also the one who created a dustup over a unsanctioned 2003 play he wrote called “Archie’s Weird Fantasy.”) But the writer squelched that chatter in an interview with The Associated Press, saying of the planned film, “It won’t be ‘Archie and the Walking Dead.'”

Archie remains one of the world’s biggest comic book draws, but the property has never made it to the multiplex, despite multiple efforts. There have been animated and live-action TV adaptations. It’s too early to say when an Archie film might arrive in theaters.