Some forty odd years ago a soap opera began its run, which would eventually take it to 1245 episodes by the time it went off the air in 1971. But this was no garden variety soap opera. This was "Dark Shadows".
According to trade magazine Variety, via Filmstalker, Johnny Depp's production company Infinitum-Nihil, GK Films, and Warner Bros. have signed a deal with the estate of the late Dan Curtis, and secured the rights to develop a feature film based on the show. Depp and Graham King will produce with David Kennedy, who ran Dan Curtis Prods. until Curtis' death. There’s no word on who would direct, and indeed no word on whether Mr Depp would take on the signature role of Barnabas Collins himself. But it would seem the obvious choice, especially considering his personal attachment to the character:
Depp has said in interviews that he has always been obsessed with "Dark Shadows" and had, as a child, wanted to be Barnabas Collins, the vampire patriarch of the series.