The Archies are coming to life thanks to director Zoya Akhtar.
Per Variety, Akhtar will direct a live-action musical take on The Archies that takes place in 1960s India. The project will be produced by Akhtar and Reema Kagti for Tiger Baby and Sharad Devarajan for Graphic India. Plans for ‘Archie in Bollywood’ adaptions were first announced in 2018. This will mark the first of those projects to come to fruition.
For Akhtar, the chance to adapt The Archies is exciting. “I am super excited to have the chance to bring ‘The Archies’ to life. It was a large part of my childhood and teenage years,” she explained. “The characters are iconic and globally loved, which is also why I am a little nervous. I have to make sure the film stokes the nostalgia of a generation that grew up on the comic and yet resonates with the young adults today.”
The Archies will mark the first international comic to be translated for Indian screens. As it stands, the project is still in the early stages and a release date has not yet been unveiled. The live-action film will reimagine classic characters like Archie, Betty, Veronica, Reggie, Moose and Jughead with an Indian cast, while still featuring elements of the comics.
“We are supremely excited to partner with the great team at Graphic India to bring Archie and his friends to Bollywood,” Jon Goldwater, Archie Comics CEO, said in a statement to Variety. “Archie’s lasting and growing presence in India made this move the logical next step as our stellar library of characters continues to expand into other media. It’s a major moment for Archie and its fans around the world.”
Source: Variety.
