Screenwriter Mark Protosevich (The Cell, Thor) has come aboard Fox’s reboot of Flash Gordon. Announced via his Facebook account, Protosevich has confirmed that he will rewrite the current script by J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay.(Star Trek Beyond). Director Matthew Vaughn is still attached to direct, although an exact timeline for production has not been given. Vaughn is currently in pre-production on Kingsman 2 for the studio.
Flash Gordon and his world hail from the popular comic strip of the same name. Created in 1934 by Alex Raymond, the comic was envisioned as a rival strip to “Buck Roger” and is similarly a space opera serial adventure. Most will, of course, best know the character the 1980 live action film incarnation that starred Sam J. Jones, Timothy Dalton, Topol, and Max Von Sydow. We certainly cannot forget the all-timer of a soundtrack by legendary rock band Queen either.
Fox has wanted a redo of Flash Gordon for years now. Will it happen with Vaughn? I’d certainly love to see him try his hand at big sci-fi adventure, especially after successfully doing a fantasy adventure film years ago in the form of 2007’s Stardust. Vaughn does have a habit of bouncing better projects, however, as well as a penchant for zeroing in on Mark Millar properties. Given that Millar has his own space opera project in the works at Fox (Starlight), I won’t be too shocked if Vaughn ultimately opts for it instead. Either way, here’s hoping we get a fun swashbuckling adventure film.
With my hopes of further John Carter of Mars films from Disney dashed and the Wachowskis’ Jupiter Ascending not turning out well, I could use another dose of the genre. Yeah, yeah, I know. We have Star Wars coming annually now. Still, variety is the spice of life.
