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Sony Quickly Hires Two Writers for Flash Gordon Reboot

by Alex Billington
August 8, 2008

Back in May we reported that director Breck Eisner would be bringing back Flash Gordon in another reboot of a classic franchise. It may not exactly be a reboot, per se, but considering that's the latest buzz word in Hollywood, I'll use it for now. Screenwriters Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless will pen the screenplay based primarily on Alex Raymond's original comic strip that first debuted in the 1930s. Of course, most will also remember the 1980 film starring Sam J. Jones and Max von Sydow that recently got its own re-release on DVD. Considering no one has really ever demanded the return of Flash Gordon in any form, I'm not entirely I'm excited for this reboot just yet. Is anyone excited for this?

Sazama and Sharpless are both newcomers without any actual writing credits yet, however they did already pen the scripts for Dracula Year Zero at Universal and Zack Snyder's Cobalt 60 adaptation. Considering I don't know anything about these two, it's hard to say whether their involvement will make or break this project, but for now I'll remain mildly optimistic because of Breck Eisner, of Sahara previously, and producer Neal Moritz, of I Am Legend and Vantage Point recently. Is this Sony's answer to the He-Man movie and the Conan / Red Sonja movies? Or am I just criticizing this reboot far too much already?

For those that need a reminder, Flash was first adapted to the screen via Buster Crabbe serials and was made into a lavish 1980 film. In the film, Flash was an athlete who travels to the planet Mongo with his lady love, Dale Arden, and the mad scientist Dr. Hans Zarkov. There, they discover a world ruled by Ming the Merciless and meet such strange inhabitants as the Hawkmen and the Sharkmen. I'm always more than happy to point anyway towards Queen's awesome Flash Gordon song as a reminder and for some mild amusement. And while you're listening to that song, ask yourself whether you're exciting to see Flash Gordon return in another big blockbuster or whether this should stay buried in the past?

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ha1rball

I love flash gordon but most of all i love alex billington!!!!! remember never cross the streams!
Colin (brother of Mike) Hunt

"Or am I just criticizing this reboot far too much already?" - You didn't criticize it at all. Tool.
Dee

This is such a bad idea.
Roy

Hey Dee, the bad series on Sci-Fi was a bad idea. Hopefully, Sony won't make the same mistake.
Bryanmakeup

One of the things I loved about the Original was the soundtrack by Queen. As a young person I rushed right out and got it. I still have it today. I think Muse could do a good job of it though.
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=137086138 Shero

I really don't care about it even Flash Gordon was one of the Animation "Cartoon" serials that I watched when I was child but again I am not exited about this remake movie ....
RD

In 28 years of watching this movie, I have yet to see any "Sharkmen."
http://www.myspace.com/apocalypze DJ SID

I'm not sure about this one... can't say it excites me at the moment.
http://cosmic-cinema.blogspot.com/ Kester Pelagius

Has there been any "re-imagined" slash "remake" slash "reboot" that Hollywood has put out in the past half a decade that should of ever seen the light of day? Don't answer that! Two things to keep in mind: 1) Unknown writer's are cheap writer's. 2) You get what you pay for. OTOH sciffy pretty much dug up the corpse of this property, raped it, then shamelessly threw the zombie abortion in audiences faces. And, let's be honest, the sciffy atrocity seemed more like a D.C. comics "Flash" adaptation that morphed into an attempt to emulate "Sliders" that turned into "Flash Gordon" series in the eleventh hour so, honestly, blind chimps typing on a type writer in esperanto would have a good chance of doing something interesting with Flash Gordon. But it's science fiction so, yeah, so long as it has rocket-ships and not lame CGI Sliders/Stargate SG-1 wormholes I'll give it a chance. Who knows this may be the remake that actually breaks the medicrity mold!
http://www.crabby.com crabby

The 80's Flash Gordon movie is the best campy sci-fi movie with an awsome queen soundtrack. I am not sure if they are going to make this movie any better. The recent TV show was, for lack of a better word, unwatchable.
http://handfulofwires.blogspot.com DCompose

FLASH! AAH- AAAAAAAAH! Prince of the Impossible!
randy

I like this forum because it brings back memories. Most people only remember the Movie------with the Queen title music. I saw the b&w serial at the movies when I was a kid------and there were sharkmen and hawkmen and it was pretty cool too. The 80s movie was entertaining, but not in the same way as the original. I never watched or remember the animation one. Since it seems the big thing now is to redo every comic book, comic strip movie/serial ever made Im for it. Maybe some will be done well. The alternative is NOT having more done. Think about it. Why so serious?---------its entertainment people! Randy
Dave V.

This film to me is like clash of the titans. It was really made before it's time. I think as much as there is to dislike about it it does have its moments. Eventhough the acting was highschool at best, they had some heavy hitters in there... Max Von Sydow and the head birdman guy, who because his name escapes me right now I'll be raked over the coals for by all you later. He did the radio broadcast of War of the Worlds..GOD DAMN I suck! Anyway back to Sydow, he does really well in films like this, i.e. Conan and Dune. Both great, yet before thier time. I suspect films like these will be the next batch of reboots and resurections coming out of Hollywood. Just like Tron and Conan. It's just going to take the right people to do it. Orsen fucking Wells! I knew I'd get it, he also was the voice of Unicron and the father of Robin of Locksley! Whew!
Ken

The actor who played Vultan, King of the Hawkmen, in the 1980's film is Brian Blessed.