Death to Ming! FLASH GORDON Reboot Coming Our Way

Gordon’s alive…again! Just in time for his 80th anniversary, Flash Gordon may be getting another shot at the big screen. The Hollywood Reporter has announced that 20th Century Fox has picked up the character’s film rights, and has hired John Davis (Chronicle, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) to produce and Star Trek 3 scribes J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay to write the script. Davis specifically has been working over a year to secure the space explorer’s rights from the Hearst Corporation.

Gordon was created in 1934 by Alex Raymond and has primarily been a comic strip character. His adventures usually follow him fighting Ming the Merciless with the help of his companions Dale Arden and Dr. Hans Zarkov. Aside from some film serials in the 1940s starring Buster Crabbe, Gordon’s only other big screen outing was the 1980 film starring Sam J. Jones and Timothy Dalton. Currently he’s starring in a new comic book series from Dynamite Entertainment (check out our review of the first issue here).

It’s still not official whether this movie will get off the ground, but it would be cool to see a more contemporary portrayal of the character. While many reboots only happen a couple years after their predecessors, this new Flash Gordon film will have over three decades distancing itself from the 1980 film. I’d say that’s long enough for waiting.

While the 1980 film was cheesy as hell (although the Queen soundtrack was cool), this new film will likely go for a more serious tone. However, the producers would be wise to avoid the “dark and gritty” reboot style. This is a character whose stories have been action-packed and out-of-this-world (literally and figuratively), and if there’s one thing Dynamite’s pulp character stories have shown us, it’s that you can have modern interpretations while staying true to the character. If I see a brooding Flash Gordon, heads will roll!

SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter