'Sahara' Director to Helm New 'Flash Gordon' Flick
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Sony, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
Don't worry, I'm not going to go off on a tangent here about how things were better in my day, but I will say that watching the whacked out 80's incarnation of Flash Gordon is one of my favorite childhood memories (I can hear the strains of Queen's theme song as I type this). So you can imagine I wasn't exactly thrilled with the news that the man behind the 'swashbuckling bomb' Sahara had signed to direct an update of the classic sci-fi story. Variety reports that Sony has won the bidding war for the rights to make a live-action film based on Alex Raymond's original comic strip with Breck Eisner at the helm.In the original story, "Flash was a handsome polo player who is kidnapped and taken to the planet Mongo. He is pitted against an evil ruler named Ming the Merciless." Some of the other incarnations of Flash included making him a football player, and a hover-boarding teen in the 90's (um, OK). In 2007, the Sci-Fi channel also attempted to reboot the series with Eric Johnson in the lead, but the series was canceled shortly after.
Believe me, I know the 1980 film was a total flop, and most of it looked like it was conceived on a mushroom trip. But how you can say no to flying hawk men, Timothy Dalton dressed like Robin Hood while in a fight to the death, and Max Von Sydow in a skull cap?Eisner also has two other remakes in the works, including an update of The Creature From the Black Lagoon and a remake of George Romero's The Crazies. It is still early days for the update, but now that Iron Man has proven to be one of the big hits of the summer, every studio will be looking for the next major superhero franchise. Could Flash Gordon be it?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-22-2008 @ 5:03PM
matt said...
I always said that if I ever became a screenwriter or a director I would want to do a Flash Gordon sequel. The original is one of my top 10 favorite movies (because of the Queen soundtrack, the "realistic" backgrounds, the entire scene where he fights Mings guards by playing football, etc) Anyway I could see a serious Flash Gordon movie doing well but it would be even more kick ass if instead of a remake they made a straight up sequel with some new faces. Hell you can always bring back Timothy Dalton at least. The movie can be done well if the right people are involved.
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5-22-2008 @ 9:50PM
Slappy said...
All together now:
Flash....Ah Ahhh....Savior of the Universe
GENIUS!
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5-22-2008 @ 4:58PM
Rebekah said...
I also grew up watching Flash Gordon and it makes me a little sad that they're re-doing it. With the classic you have Queen and Topol and Mongols with bells. But it might be fun to see a new take on it. I keep watching the new versions of Dune and even though I love the David Lynch version.
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5-22-2008 @ 10:50PM
V said...
cheesy but still a classic. My favorite part was the football game until Flash was hit by the ball accidentally on the head.
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