There’s been a recent surge in popularity with writers for adapting to film classic episodes of what I believe is the greatest television show ever made, The Twilight Zone.

There are no less than three movies based on episodes of the series currently in the works, including two adapted from the great writer Richard Matheson - The Box and Countdown.

But now Leonardo DiCaprio has gone one step further. He has teamed up with Warner Bros. to seek the best pitches to adapt into one or more features which would carry one solid storyline, a homage to his favourite show as a kid. They have put the word out to writers everywhere to pitch “Twilight Zone-esque” themed scripts, which could be adapted from any of the show’s storylines or more loosely in the same vein as the atmosphere of the show.

Warner Bros. own the rights to Rod Serling’s 155 episode masterpiece series.

A Twilight Zone film is already a part of history. A joint project in 1983 from Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, John Landis and George Miller resulted in a disappointing mediocre effort and not up to the great standard of what Serling originated in the 50’s.

Well, we all know it sucks as an idea. What made the original show so provocative was the characters they could create in a given situation with just over twenty minutes of screentime. The series worked best with short and often terrifying and poignant stories.

Translate that to film and what do you get? CRAP! Good luck with this guys…

source - the hollywood reporter