Flash Gordon|Taika Waititi

[Himmel]

Deadline

Overlord Director To Helm Flash Gordon Movie



Overlord helmer Julius Avery is moving onto another pulpy genre project, this time in the form of a Flash Gordon reboot for Fox.

Avery pitched his take for a Flash Gordon movie reboot to Fox and the studio liked it enough to hire him for the project. The current plan is for Avery to write and direct the film alone.

Flash Gordon is an adaptation of the pulp comic-strip hero who originated in 1934, with Flash pitted on the planet Mongo fighting its tyrannical ruler, Ming the Merciless. It was most famously adapted for the screen through the Buster Crabbe serials, but Seth MacFarlane’s Ted gave some serious hero worship of the 1980 campy Flash Gordon movie that starred Sam Jones as the character.

[Porco Azzurro]

So one could say... Gordon's alive?!

[kylor]

[Cremildo]

They didn't even wait and see if Overlord is gonna bomb? Someone high up must have liked it a lot.

[MJD64]

Hot damn! I love the Buster Crabbe serials as well as the eye-filling, wonderfully campy 1980 film; Avery's Overlord is already garnering some great reviews (can't wait to see it), so I'll stay cautiously optimistic that this will see the light of day.

[Predatorix38417]

Except Disney will probably cancel this...

[SethRex]

Funny, I was basically telling my dad a day or two ago that they should reboot this.

[Himmel]

Originally Posted by SethRex

Funny, I was basically telling my dad a day or two ago that they should reboot this.

Well now you got your wish. Happy New Year!!

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

They didn't even wait and see if Overlord is gonna bomb? Someone high up must have liked it a lot.

If it does it'll probably go the same way as Kerry Conran's John Carter of Mars. Which looked a lot more fun than what we finally got from Disney:

Kerry Conran's John Carter Of Mars Presentation - YouTube

[Poya]

Fox... Flash Gordon... I’m surprised a certain cartoonist isn’t involved in this.

[Himmel]

Taika Waititi To “Crack” ‘Flash Gordon’ As Fox/Disney Animated Film

Fox/Disney has attached Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi to “crack” Flash Gordon, as an animated feature film.

I had heard that the inventive filmmaker Waititi was signing on to write and direct, but his camp indicates it’s too early to gauge exactly what his role would be.

Flash Gordon has been in development for what seems like ages — Kingsman‘s Matthew Vaughn and Overlord director Julius Avery are the most recent filmmakers to align with the project — but an animated film is an intriguing way to tackle an iconic property that slipped into the cheesy category thanks to a 1980 film that starred Sam Jones and Max Von Sydow and had a memorable theme song and soundtrack by Freddie Mercury and Queen.

Flash Gordon returns to its origins here. It began in 1934 as a science-fiction comic strip created by and originally drawn by Alex Raymond to compete with Buck Rogers. Earth is threatened by a collision with the planet Mongo, and Flash is sent off in a rocket ship in an attempt to stop the disaster. He’s pitted against Mongo’s tyrannical ruler Ming the Merciless. The comic strip led to a serial starring Buster Crabbe and multiple movies and television series. The 1980 film got some hero worship by Seth MacFarlane’s live action/animation hybrid, Ted.

Source

[Dragon78]

Well if they do get the people that did Thor Ragnarok then that is about as close to a live action Saturday morning cartoon. Personally if they had the same people working on the new live action He-Man movie, I would be happy.

[Darkstream]

As a fan of Taika Waititi and Thor: Ragnarok, part of me absolutely loves the idea of this.

But there's also a part of me that's disappointed, because I know this means we'll probably never see a serious live-action Flash Gordon film. Looks like campy humor will be the only tone that will keep the franchise alive.

But hopefully, this will spur interest in Flash Gordon again and someone with power will get the rights to re-release and remaster the only serious interpretation of the character we've had, Filmation's 1982 animated film Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All.

[Elgie]

Originally Posted by Darkstream

But there's also a part of me that's disappointed, because I know this means we'll probably never see a serious live-action Flash Gordon film. Looks like campy humor will be the only tone that will keep the franchise alive.

I mean, Winged BRIAN BLESSED diving to the sound of Queen is the definitive everything.

[Rodney-2187]

He's for every one of us.

[Guydowood]

for those who have Amazon Prime the Documentary on what happened to Sam J Jones "Life after Flash" is streaming now. Its a good doc and some of the main cast drop in during this and share some dirt on the making of the film itself. Check it Out!

[s2mikey]

I’m actually fine with the gloriously cheesey and charmy existing version. Yeah, yeah....it’s "insert problems here" but it’s still a fun watch. I dunno.

[Darkstream]

Originally Posted by Elgie

I mean, Winged BRIAN BLESSED diving to the sound of Queen is the definitive everything.

LOL. I love that Flash Gordon movie, too, but between that and Flesh Gordon, it seems no one will ever take the franchise serious.

[wallendo]

Originally Posted by Darkstream

As a fan of Taika Waititi and Thor: Ragnarok, part of me absolutely loves the idea of this.

But there's also a part of me that's disappointed, because I know this means we'll probably never see a serious live-action Flash Gordon film. Looks like campy humor will be the only tone that will keep the franchise alive.

But hopefully, this will spur interest in Flash Gordon again and someone with power will get the rights to re-release and remaster the only serious interpretation of the character we've had, Filmation's 1982 animated film Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All.

It's Disney. If this is half-way successful, Disney will make a live-action version of the animation. And probably a Broadway musical also.

[Himmel]

Taika Waititi's Animated 'Flash Gordon' Movie Is Now Live-Action

Two years ago, Taika Waititi was hired to take a crack at an animated Flash Gordon movie, but in a recent interview timed to the release of Disney's Jungle Cruise, producer John Davis told Collider that the project is now being developed as a live-action film.

"Taika is writing it. It was a movie that was a huge influence on him growing up. It is one of his favorite movies. He initially said to me, 'Let's do it animated.' I said, 'Okay.' Then we got into it and started developing it and he said, 'No, let's do it live-action.' I said, 'Even better.'"

"He has the most fantastically interesting vision for this movie. And you can only know it is Taika. It is what he does. It is the way he looks at the world. He is the greatest guy in the world. He is the funniest guy in the world. And he thinks on a different plane. And this movie embraces everything that's special about Taika, and his vision," said Davis, who said that Waititi hopes to surprise audiences with his updated take on the character. "It harkens in a very interesting way to the original conception from the comics," he revealed.•••