Whedon update: ‘Cabin in the Woods’ and Buffy

June 15, 1:14 PMPittsburgh Horror Movie ExaminerMatt Carrick

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I resent the Kuzuis all the more for making me use this poster twice.

Recently, Entertainment Weekly published a quick interview with geek deity Joss Whedon that has yielded some simultaneously heartening and disheartening news. A couple weeks ago we ran a story on an upcoming remake/reboot/re-something version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Unfortunately the film will revisit the original 1991 film only, and completely ignore the mythology, characters, and plotlines developed in the television series.

When the previous article ran, the jury was still out on Whedon’s involvement, though everyone was leaning towards “no.” Well according to Whedon in EW’s interview, the Kuzuis (who hold the rights to the Buffy franchise) did make a half-hearted gesture towards involving him. The response (and I’m paraphrasing here), “Thanks, I wish you all the luck, but you know where you can shove it.”

So the bad news is, Whedon will not be involved with the new Buffy movie, and at this point I give it a 1-in-5 shot at not sucking horrendously. On the other hand, the good news is that Joss Whedon gets to keep his dignity, and we can continue to respect and revere him.

Besides, it’s not as though Whedon is hard up for work these days. Dollhouse got renewed for another season, and he just wrapped filming on his upcoming horror film The Cabin in the Woods. Whedon co-wrote the film with director Drew Goddard who previously collaborated with Whedon on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and more recently wrote the screenplay for J.J. Abrams’ Cloverfield. Plot details for The Cabin in the Woods have been kept strictly under wraps, but the film is described as a variation on the classic “cabin in the woods” horror formula. The cast includes Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford, and possibly Whedon veteran Amy Acker.

The Cabin in the Woods is in postproduction with a projected release date of February 5, 2010. Hopefully we’ll see a trailer and poster released within the next few months. The new Buffy the Vampire Slayer film is tentatively slated to hit theaters sometime in 2012, but first things first, the Kuzuis need to find someone to write and direct a movie no one wants to see.