Daphne and Velma, the teen-girl sleuths from “Scooby-Doo,” are getting their own origin story in a live-action feature-length film from Jennifer and Ashley Tisdale’s production banner.

“Daphne and Velma” is being produced by the Tisdale sisters’ Blondie Girl Productions and Warner Bros. Television Group’s Blue Ribbon Content digital studio. Sarah Jeffery (“Shades of Blue”) and Sarah Gilman (“Last Man Standing”) star in the title roles as Daphne and Velma, respectively.

The film is currently shooting in Atlanta and is set to be released by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment in 2018. The studio isn’t disclosing distribution details at this point.

“Daphne and Velma” tells the story of Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley before they team up with Scooby and the rest of the Mystery Inc. gang. The mystery-solving teens are best friends but have only met online — until Daphne transfers to Velma’s school, Ridge Valley High, stocked with high-tech gadgetry by the school’s benefactor, tech billionaire Tobias Bloom. While their peers vie for a coveted internship at Bloom’s company, Daphne and Velma try to uncover the reason why the school’s brightest students are disappearing — only to emerge again in a zombie-fied state.

“Blondie Girl is committed to telling stories from a female perspective and we could not be more thrilled to give Daphne and Velma their own story,” Ashley and Jennifer Tisdale said in a joint statement. “It’s so exciting to partner with Warner Home Entertainment and Blue Ribbon Content to introduce a new generation to the smart, charismatic, fearless females that we all know and love.”

For Warner Bros.’ part, “We wanted to give the audience a new take on these two familiar faces, who are fan favorites in the Scooby-Doo universe,” said Peter Girardi, EVP of Blue Ribbon Content and EVP of alternative programming of Warner Bros. Animation.

“Daphne and Velma” is produced by Blue Ribbon Content and Blondie Girl Productions with production services provided by Lifeboat Productions. Serving as producers are Ashley Tisdale (best known for the “High School Musical” franchise), Jennifer Tisdale (“Bring It On: In it to Win It”), Amy Kim (“Confess,” “Alive in Denver”), Jaime Burke (“The Pact”) and Suzi Yoonessi (“Olive and Mocha: First Kiss”). Yoonessi also is directing, from a script by Kyle Mack and Caitlin Meares.

“Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!,” from Hanna-Barbera Productions (now a division of Warner Bros. Animation), first aired in 1969 on CBS. The franchise has since yielded about a dozen television revivals and spinoffs, as well as more than three dozen films.

Warner Bros. Television Group formed Blue Ribbon Content in 2014. Its projects include comedy “Now We’re Talking” for Verizon’s Go90 from Uninterrupted, the Time Warner-backed sports media company founded by LeBron James; docu-series “Best Shot” for YouTube Red in association with James’ SpringHill Entertainment; “Ellen’s Pet Dish” for Ellen DeGeneres’ EllenTube; and “Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles” for Machinima.

Blondie Girl Productions, founded by Ashley Tisdale and run by Ashley and her sister Jennifer with Kaitlin Saltzman as head of television, is repped at UTA and currently has a deal at Warner Horizon Scripted Television. The L.A.-based company’s recent projects include Freeform’s comedy series “Young & Hungry” and are producing a comedy for CBS from writer Joanna Quraishi in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Source: Variety