Beaks here...

At Warner Bros. nothing is unadaptable.

Undeterred by the mixed critical reception of WATCHMEN (we'll know more about the commercial reception come Saturday), WB is reportedly moving forward on a feature-length version of Stephen King's beloved, 1,138-page IT. According to The Hollywood Reporter's Borys Kit, the studio has hired the up-and-coming Dave Kajganich to write the screenplay - which, to the delight of King purists everywhere, will be set in the present day!

Exclusively? Kit's article doesn't say, but focusing entirely on one-half of the story - whilst consigning the rest to, presumably, spoken exposition or quick flashbacks - would greatly weaken the emotional impact of the book. It's a tough call. Though I think the novel could've done with some judicious editing, I don't know what you cut exactly. When Tommy Lee Wallace directed the novel for network TV, he basically jettisoned all of the "icky" stuff (e.g. the fuckin'). That, despite a nightmare-inducing performance from Tim Curry as Pennywise the clown, did not work. As a two-hour-plus feature film (unless they land a big-fish director, it's doubtful WB would let this run over 130 minutes), I think you've no choice but to completely reconfigure the material.

I'm not familiar with Kajganich's work (he wrote THE INVASION and Joel Schumacher's upcoming CREEK), so I've no idea if he's up to the task. I wish him the best of luck, though. There may be a great 130-page screenplay tucked away in IT. What do you think?