Honestly, out all the comics that've been discussed as potential movies, Neil Gaiman’s SANDMAN spin-off, DEATH: THE HIGH COST OF LIVING, would seem like the easiest option. It’s a concise story, it’s not as  fantasy-heavy as the regular SANDMAN series… and it’s got a premise that anybody, even someone who’d never touch a comic, can grasp. It’d seem like a no-brainer (especially now that the girl's appearing in the main DCU) yet it’s been languishing in development hell for years, now. 

Gaiman finally commented on the status of the project during an interview with Vulture recently...

“We just set it up again at a Warner-related company and everything was all ready... If you had asked me in March of this year about Death, I would have told you that I thought it was pretty definitely dead. And if you’d asked me in April, I would have been thrilled and happy and said, 'No, no, no, it’s absolutely on...' So, whether or not it will come back to life, I don’t know. Death seems amazingly hard to kill."

He also goes on to say that, back when he was first doing the comic in the early 90s, he had a corporate meeting about the prospect of a DEATH movie wherein he requested that they not make it. The suit he met with commented that he was the only creator to make such a request out of the dozens who’d had similar meetings. The rest always wanted a movie to be made.  I suppose it begs the question of whether DEATH movie is even necessary. If it’s perfectly adequate as a comic, why can’t it just stay that way?  

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of    HYBRID BASTARDS!  &   UNIMAGINABLE . Order them on Amazon   here   &  here .

Shouldn't they make a Sandman movie first?

" Shouldn't they make a Sandman movie first? "

Love the idea, but scared of the results. Gaiman's waaaay better in the written medium.

Works better as a comic. 

Would love to see this happen. But only correctly.
 
Stardust was mostly fantastic.

" @Son_of_Magnus said:

" Shouldn't they make a Sandman movie first? "

this "

" Shouldn't they make a Sandman movie first? "

perky goth actress in a decent story, totally sold :) 
I'm reluctant to believe that the 'suits' will ever get it totally right in their translations however, the books have one production agenda and the screens have to dilute most of it into more eye candy, but less story as a result.
 
Should it stay just a comic? Probably, but I'm not one to complain when they burn money on bad translations so long as I don't do so with them. Thankfully vine and screened help me avoid that :)

"If it’s perfectly adequate as a comic, why can’t it just stay that way?" 
 
Thank you Tom. Comic books are less likely to be accepted as a genuine medium of art if they need to be translated into movies in order to generate interest. No one would look at the Sistine Chapel ceiling and say that it would make a great HBO series, why then have comics become the poster children of the adaptation. I'm not saying they're all bad or that they completely diminish the genre, but I dislike them and needed to rant a bit. 

Death: I love the original comics!  I for one am okay with a pass on Death as a movie if it doesn't get Neil Gaiman's stamp of approval somehow!

I want better Vertigo movies!

ah my favorite Death story at that, and one of my top Vertigo picks.
i'm game of course.
 
in fact it could work in reverse if the movie is well received to garnish 
a large and very needed budget for a Sandman movie if you do the math.

It could work probably sell better than Sandman

I just hope:
a) they don't ruin Gaiman's story if this gets made.
b) Get Death's actress right! Not the "bimbo-of-the-month" hollywood loves to put everywhere! And not too emo-ysh too.. She's a fun character, as far as Sandman stories go.

" @Son_of_Magnus said:

" Shouldn't they make a Sandman movie first? "

this "

You don't need the Sandman because it's not the first time the grim reaper has been depicted as a person. 
 What makes the High Cost of Living such a great book is how it's younger audience can relate to the themes of making those moments precious. Death isn't your enemy but as much your friend in life. 
 
I still have the original t-shirt and in every country I've been in (that would be 17) at least one person would recognize it and give a compliment (many of which became friends over the last 15 years). At the last NYCC, not ONE person. Sad.

I'm so in to a movie about this graphic novel, bot done right, of course.