As early, mixed reviews begin to appear for Alice In Wonderland, FirstShowing reports Tim Burton and his 9 producing partner (and Wanted director) Timur Bekmambetov have purchased the rights to Seth Grahame-Smith’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, just released earlier this week on Tuesday. Burton and Bekmambetov, who currently own the rights without studio backing, have not announced a director or screenwriter yet. Vampire Hunter is Grahame-Smith's follow-up to Pride And Prejudice And Zombies, which has a Richard Kelly- and Natalie Portman-produced Hollywood adaptation top-lined by Portman already in the works.
Burton seems to be moving out of fairytales and into vampire horror with this project, which will feature an axe-wielding Honest Abe in a plot reminiscent of CW’s Supernatural as he battles the bloodthirsty, vampiric Confederacy. This comes on the heels of Burton’s long-in-development adaptation of the soap opera serial Dark Shadows, which will star (none other than) Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, a lovelorn 175-year old vampire whose introduction on the series resurrected its declining ratings. Burton will direct Dark Shadows.
If Spielberg ever gets his Lincoln biopic into production, could there be an Abe Lincoln match-up headed to theaters? Or better yet, could Liam Neeson do double duty? For now, let’s thank our lucky stars Depp doesn’t have the height to play Lincoln.
Check out a promo trailer for Grahame-Smith's book below.