Wow, big news yesterday for Anne Rice/Vampire Chronicles fans. After a few days of teasing followers of her Facebook page that she was going to post some big news, on Nov. 27 Anne finally spilled the beans and announced that she has reacquired the theatrical rights for the Vampire Chronicles.
Here was her Facebook post:
Back in 2014 the big news was that Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment had acquired the rights and were going to reboot the franchise as a new film series, starting with a remake of Interview With the Vampire (originally made as a film in 1994 by Neil Jordan and starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt). People were pretty excited about this news and director Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars) was attached to direct. Back in April of 2016 he even posted a picture of a completed first script, which he co-wrote with Jill Killington, on his Instagram page.
No one seems to know at the moment what happened with that, and there weren’t any reports about the project being cancelled in the media that I was aware of, but whatever the reason, the announcement from came as a surprise to many fans but definitely a pleasant surprise because this means that Anne will have more creative control over the adaptations and this reassures fans that the Vampire Chronicles will be given the kind of screen treatment they deserve. In many fans’ minds, this means not film but TV – specifically, a Game of Thrones-type show which would devote an entire season to one approximate book in the series and thereby allowing for adaptations that are very loyal to the books.
Anne agrees. She wrote (to the ecstasy of her fans):
‘Over the years you all have told me how much you want to see a “Game of Thrones” style faithful rendering of this material, and how much you want for the series to remain in my control. Well, I have heard you. I have always heard you. What you want is what I want.’
What a way indeed to tell your fans what they want to hear. Anne, we’re all definitely looking forward to any additional news from you in the coming weeks and months.