Lawrence.com

Orlando, Fla. — Pop music alchemist Lou Pearlman thinks he's found a way to turn the oldies classic "Sugar, Sugar" into modern-day gold.

After launching the Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync, O-Town and other groups, Pearlman plans to create acts based on two cartoon bands, The Archies and Josie and the Pussycats.

The partnership with New York-based Archie Entertainment likely will spawn a live-action television series, merchandise and commercial tie-ins that could be worth $100 million, Pearlman said.

Archie Entertainment is an affiliate of Archie Comic Publications Inc., publisher of the Archie comic magazines that sell about 1 million copies a month.

"We have a built-in market," Pearlman said Wednesday. "We're going to try to make it fun, exciting, co-branding and co-sponsoring things such as clothing lines."

If the project gets off the ground, it won't be the first time the 60-year-old Archie cartoon has ventured into the music business. In the late 1960s, The Archies, a studio group inspired by the cartoon, produced bubble gum hits including "Jingle Jangle" and "Sugar, Sugar," which reached No. 1 in 1969.

The new band will record new songs and re-record the classics with a modern sensibility, said Pearlman, adding that the target age group is "age 8 to 80."

"Ninety percent will be fresh material and 10 percent will be remake," said Pearlman, 47.

With the help of former BMG Entertainment president and CEO Strauss Zelnick, Pearlman and Archie Entertainment are shopping The Archies as a live-action television show to the networks. Once a television commitment is in hand, Pearlman will hold nationwide tryouts for the five or six men and women to play the teens from Riverdale High.

If he's successful, a group based on Josie and the Pussycats will follow. A live-action "Josie and the Pussycats" movie, starring Rachael Leigh Cook and Tara Reid, received mixed reviews and meager box office revenue when it came out last year.