Variety reports that not only is a Doctor Who movie in the works, but Harry Potter helmer David Yates is set to direct it.
Yates revealed, quite out of the blue, that he will be developing the film with Jane Tranter of BBC Worldwide and that “we’re looking at writers now. We’re going to take two to three years to get it right”.
There are no additional details, but Yates said that this would be independent of the television version of the franchise, which has most recently been helmed by Russel T. Davies and Steven Moffat. “It needs quite a radical transformation to take it into the bigger arena,” he says. “Russell T. Davies and then Steven Moffat have done their own transformations, which were fantastic, but we have to put that aside and start from scratch”. This, of course, seems to rule out David Tennant or current Doctor Matt Smith reprising their role as the titular Doctor. Does it even mean he will be British?
Doctor Who was first aired in 1963 in the UK, and remains one of the world’s most beloved science-fiction series. The Doctor is a Time Lord that journeys through time and space in a blue box called the TARDIS: it’s bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. The titular Doctor, originally played by William Hartnell, has undergone several facelifts (or regenerations) over the years and has been played by Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann. The series was rebooted in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston, who has subsequently regenerated into David Tennant and currently by Matt Smith. The latter has just completed the airing of Series 6 of the rebooted series, and will next be seen in a Christmas Special.
There were also two feature films starring Peter Cushing in the 1960s, Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.
Doctor Who will celebrate its 50th Anniversary in 2013. Is this a possible release date?
