IESB.net is reporting "While interviewing GET SMART director Peter Segal this past weekend in Beverly Hills, he spoke briefly about writer John August. Segal says August, who is writing BILLY BATSON AND THE LEGEND OF SHAZAM for Segal over at WB, is jumping back and forth between Tim Burton's DARK SHADOWS and his SHAZAM script trying to work on both films at the same time due to a back log of work after the writers' strike earlier this year.

So, while we can't confirm the rumors of Depp starring as Barnabus Collins in DARK SHADOWS, the IESB has confirmed that TIM BURTON is attached to direct and JOHN AUGUST has been brought in to write the adaptation for the film."

While this info seems to be unofficial at this point, there doesn't seem to be much reason to doubt it.

Read the complete article:
http://www.iesb.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4997&Itemid=99

Seventeen years ago tonight "Dark Shadows : The Movie" premiered at 9PM ET on NBC. Serving as a pilot for the series, it was an amazing success with nearly 1 in 4 households tuning in for the premiere. While the remainder of season one would not fare quite so well due to a rather untimely international event (news coverage of the First Gulf War continually interrupted broadcasts), the series was a tour de force production combining an amazing cast, racing plot lines and a rich and gothic setting for a memorable viewing experience - as evidenced by the hundreds and hundreds that continue to grace this site every month.



Discuss this news entry in our Blue Whale Forum.

Variety is reporting that a deal just closed on a new Dark Shadows Film:
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Depp lights up 'Dark Shadows'
Graham King to produce Warner feature
By MICHAEL FLEMING

Johnny Depp is getting in touch with his inner vampire.

Warner Bros. is teaming with Depp's Infinitum-Nihil and Graham King's GK Films to develop a feature based on the '60s daytime supernatural sudser "Dark Shadows."

Depp has said in interviews that he has always been obsessed with "Dark Shadows" and had, as a child, wanted to be Barnabas Collins, the vampire patriarch of the series. The role was originated by Jonathan Frid.

A rights deal just closed with the estate of Dan Curtis, the producer/director who created the soap that aired weekdays on ABC, from 1966 to 1971. Depp and King will produce with David Kennedy, who ran Dan Curtis Prods. until Curtis died last year of a brain tumor. Infinitum-Nihil's Christi Dembrowski served as the point person on the deal.

Over 1,225 episodes, "Dark Shadows" was a highly atmospheric, spooky soap that featured gothic horror staples like vampires, monsters, witches, werewolves, ghosts and zombies. The show has a continuing rabid fan base that populates Dark Shadows Festival conventions. Numerous TV revivals of the series and pic adaptations have been attempted over the years but none with as high-wattage a star as Depp.

Depp, who is coming off "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" and who just wrapped the Tim Burton-directed "Sweeney Todd," is next expected to star in "Shantaram," a Mira Nair-directed adaptation of the Gregory David Roberts novel that Depp, King and Plan B are producing for Warner Bros. Depp, King and WB are also mobilizing to make a film about the life of Alexander Litvinenko, with Depp poised to play the former KGB agent, who was fatally poisoned.
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See the original article here:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117969246.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

DAN CURTIS - Producer-Director of Television Mini-Series & Dark Shadows Creator
Veteran television and film producer-director Dan Curtis, 78, passed away at 6:15 a.m. (P.S.T.) on March 27, 2006 at his home in Brentwood, California, following a four-month battle with cancer.
Best-known for spearheading the landmark mini-series The Winds Of War and War And Remembrance, as well as creating the Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, Curtis' diverse career in entertainment spanned five decades. Read More...

The 2004 pilot for a new Dark Shadows series seems to have been passed up by the WB network. It appears that it is being offered to other networks but chances are slim for a pick-up at this point, judging by all available info. Best of luck to those involved...

The 2004 pilot for the new Dark Shadows is currently filming and Greystone mansion is once again being used for Collinwood. It will not be used for the Old House this time around, however. Which is a good thing, imo. (Source: collinwood.net)

It was recently announced that the WB network has ordered a pilot and several scripts for a proposed remake of Dark Shadows for the 2004 TV season. Shooting supposedly started yesterday. This news has inspired me to dig out my DS91 tapes and I think I'm going to spend some time whipping this site into a little better shape over the next month or so.