The duo behind the Spider-verse films are headed to Riverdale.
According to The Wrap, Phil Lord and Chris Miller will produce a new movie based on Archie Comics, written by none other DC Comics stalwart Tom King. King has previously written for Archie, penning the 2024 one-shot The Decision in which Archie Andrews finally decides who to settle down with, Betty or Veronica.
“We are longtime fans of Archie, Veronica, Betty and the gang in all of their iterations,” Lord and Miller said in a statement to The Wrap. “When we heard Tom King’s take on the classic material, we instantly thought it made sense as an event movie for all audiences — both lifelong fans and a whole new generation. We’re so excited to bring these beloved characters to the big screen.”
Taking on Archie is a fascinating gamble for Lord and Miller, who’ve had plenty of success turning unlikely IP into blockbuster fare. The two broke out of TV animation after directing the two Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs movies. They jumped to live-action with the self-aware comedy-forward 21 Jump Street, momentarily directed Solo: A Star Wars Story, then found a groove overseeing the highly influential Into the Spider-verse and Across the Spider-verse for Sony. They recently directed 2026’s Project Hail Mary, starring Ryan Gosling. While the news doesn’t make clear whether their Archie movie would be animated or live-action, either way, Lord and Miller do it all, and well.
But what is Archie to the masses at this point? Two years removed from The CW’s hit series Riverdale, the property is a teen saga with unlimited dream-logic possibilities. Meanwhile, Netflix recently released a Hindi-language musical version of Archie — that’s elasticity. But the actual comics appear at a crossroads; the days of checking in on Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Jughead’s on a whim in line at the grocery store is pretty much over, as changes in distributors and digest formats have made it challenging to track the stories, let alone the publishing strategy and release schedule. (For more: Heidi MacDonald at The Beat has done an amazing job diving into the evolution of the brand and the bleak prospects of its distribution.)
The success of Marvel movies has proved that the viability of a character to hit at the box office has little to do with its marketability as the cover star of a paperback (although the MCU seems to have had a positive impact on actual comics sales). Lord and Miller see life for Archie on the big screen. Maybe that’s what saves the Archie of yore from going completely out of print.
