In a competitive auction, Universal Pictures is developing a live-action film based on the iconic characters of Archie Comics, one of the comics industry’s longest-running publishers. Tom King will write the screenplay. Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Aditya Sood will produce the project through Lord Miller’s first look deal with Universal, along with Emma Watts, who brought the project to Lord Miller with King, and Archie Comics CEO and Publisher Jon Goldwater.
The news follows a string of highly successful live-action adaptations of Archie characters to screens, including the breakout seven-season CW television series Riverdale, the Netflix streaming series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and the smash-hit film The Archies, also for Netflix and directed by Zoya Akhtar. Archie’s storylines center around a core cast of teens in the small town of Riverdale, anchored by heartfelt interpersonal dynamics, humor, and lighthearted drama. King, known for his fan-favorite emotionally resonant revivals of classic superhero characters like The Omega Men, Adam Strange, and The Vision, explored the Archie dynamic with his signature philosophic insight in the bestselling one-shot comic book Archie: The Decision last year, drawn by longtime Archie mainstay Dan Parent.
Archie has sold over three billion comics throughout its history, published in dozens of languages and read worldwide, most notably in Philippines, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, South America, Australia, UAE, and India; 100 million Archie comics have sold in India alone in the last 50 years. New Archie titles are continuously published monthly and are widely available in comic book stores, newsstand outlets, bookstores, libraries, and on the digital reading platforms comiXology and GlobalComix.
Senior Vice President of Production Development and Special Projects Britt Hennemuth and Director of Production Development Christine Sun will oversee the project for the studio. Lord Miller is represented by UTA and JSSK. Watts is represented by CAA. Archie Comics is represented by CAA. King is represented by UTA.
