By: Open Book
Hollywood can’t seem to stop churning out vampire films ever since the success of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga. Warner Brothers announced last week they are re-booting the popular vampire series Buffy the Vampire Slayer without screenwriter and director Joss Whedon. What will women do after Twilight ends is the question on everyone’s mind in Hollywood. Who will step in and fill the void of Summit and Stephenie Meyer hit franchise? Warner Bros. is making their bid with Buffy!
But how stupid does Warner’s believe Female fans are? Seems like only yesterday president of production Jeff Robinov of Warner Bros. announced, “We are no longer doing movies with women in the lead….,” according to an article written by Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood in 2007.[1] Now, after the Twilight series successes they let the cat out of the bag two years previous to the end of Twilight that they want to fight for female fans. Wow! What a quick turn around. Obviously they don’t believe the Twilight Saga is ending. What do they know that we don’t????!!!!
If you haven’t been paying attention to both actors Taylor Lautner (in a recent interview on Hit Fix) and Kellen Lutz. The two actors from Twilight have already made statements claiming they would stay with the Twilight series far into the future (if they were able).[2] Why would it be necessary to make these bids for participation if there wasn’t buzz surrounding the franchise continuing? Obviously a storyline and love triangle featuring Renesmee (the daughter of characters Edward and Bella) is already specified in print and will be launched in the Breaking Dawn (so called) finale. We may have to wait for Summit to let us know when this continuation will occur yet, until then, female fans should show Warner’s what we think about their condescension.
As much as Warner Bros. thinks it can “Frankenstein” style recreate another Stephanie Meyer or Melissa Rosenberg in actress Whit Anderson I think female fans should voice their opinions. Despite a lack of writing credits, Whit Anderson (who is writing the Buffy screenplay) has the consent of Warner bros’ top brass to deliver this story? In the LA Times column Hero Complex, producer Charles Roven sounds ready to support the film before a director or any acting talent has even been discussed.[3]
“Generally, I wouldn’t have said, ‘Let’s revive this,’ but Whit’s take is pretty compelling and a lot of fun, and it’s interesting to see all of this reimagined. This is a completely new reboot. Tone is extremely important, and you want the audience to realize what is at stake and the peril is real, but at the same time what’s going on should be fun and inviting and keep everyone engaged. It needs to be relevant to today too, and that is what Whit has found a way to do.”
Sounds like another attack or insult against Stephanie Meyer and Melissa Rosenberg. I guess anyone can wake up one day and write Twilight. Get prepared to meet the overnight directing success to mimic Catherine Hardwicke’s work as well. This participant hasn’t been discussed yet, even though you usually never hear about a movie being green-lit before a director is selected. Sounds like Joss Whedon is not a contender for this job either.
The predominantly male fan base is already preaching they will not support the film without Screenwriter Director Joss Whedon at the helm. But Warner Bros. has already made it clear they are not looking to satisfy this group as much as they want to steal Twilight’s female future thunder.
Of course Anderson, the former Actress is playing along. She claims to have been a Buffy fan all along.[4]
“I just loved this character. I was the same age as Buffy, and it was so rare to have a female lead character on TV in those days who was strong and capable and smart but also allowed to be feminine.”
LA Times writer Geoff Boucher concurs when he states:
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” series put some fang into high school melodrama long before “Twilight” made the undead all sparkly, and one big reason was the ability of the show’s creator, Joss Whedon, to put himself in the head of his female fans.”
Clearly this re-boot is a direct attack on the Twilight saga we thought was ending. So what do you think, are women so stupid they will support anything with vampires in it? Can male executives in Hollywood so easily predict what women want from their entertainment?
[1] http://www.firstshowing.net/2007/10/08/warner-brothers-president-says-no-more-female-lead-characters/
[2] http://www.hitfix.com/articles/taylor-lautner-would-consider-playing-jacob-in-a-twilight-spinoff
comicreleaf
comicrelief2
Comic Relief
parisienne
littlebells
Lurker
ozzie20
Open Book
LIH
linkedinhollywood.com 
Personally I will not go see this movie or series of movies, because one I was never a Buffy fan when it was on television and two I am actually tired of the vampire genere as a whole. I also think that as a whole most of the movie going audience is getting vampire overload.
I also can say that if Summit plans on continueing the Twilight Saga after Breaking Dawn pt 2 I think it will be a big mistake. Just like the last Harry Potter that comes out in July it is the end of the series and it should let it just end.
Warner Brothers should really look into this a little more before they decide to invest money in this vampire series. If they really want to know what draws the female fans to the Twilight Saga it was the oldest story of star-cross lovers living happily ever after.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was written and directed by Whedon and it attracted a predominately male fan base. Today, Warner Bros. hiring a female screen writer to get women to fork up their money is patronizing. How about a good script, variety, originality and respect for women behind the scenes. The lack of respect is the reason Warner Bros.and other studios missed the boat with women and it will be the reason for them missing it again with this Buffy re-boot. However, maybe next time they wont penalize female actors for it.
Well, here’s another angle.
Buffy was centered around a high-school age base of characters. Much the same as Glee, HS Musical, Twilight just to name a few. I’m not so sure if I take a different direction here that they are looking to target the “tween” market with a new take on Buffy? Just my first thoughts after reading the article.
I agree with you Lurkerm3!!! I think Hollywood is looking to target a new teen fan base by re-booting Buffy. I do think Warner Brothers might have a shot at capturing new fans if the story and direction is good.
OMG no more twilight stuff after Twilight is done. At least recast please.
Seriously yummy guys in Twilight, my favorite being Taylor Lauter who plays Jacob Black – utterly delicious and a great young actor.
Love reading about anything to do with this topic, interesting post going to link back to it on my blog.