MOVIE NEWS – And the Flash Gordon movie is still on the ‘Jojo Rabbit’ director’s busy schedule.

There may be no one in Hollywood these days with a busier schedule than Taika Waititi. The Thor: Ragnarok director who made his name with Jojo Rabbit (and his Best Original Screenplay Oscar) is still stuck at Marvel for Thor: Love and Thunder (out May 6, 2022), while his other projects include the comedy Next Goal Wins, the Akira remake, an untitled Star Wars film… and a new Flash Gordon adaptation. The latter is particularly amusing because the comic created by Alex Raymond in 1934 was a basic reference for George Lucas when creating his influential universe, and it stood out among Waitititi’s string of titles because it was animated. But this is no longer its main feature.

According to Collider exclusively, Waitititi’s Flash Gordon film will finally be live-action. This was revealed by its producer John Davis during an interview in the Jungle Cruise thread, which premiered this Friday with him as one of the driving forces behind it. “Taika is writing it. It was a film that influenced him a lot as a kid. It’s one of his favourites,” Davis declares. “At first he said ‘let’s make it animated’. And I said ‘OK’. Then we got into it and he said ‘no, let’s do it live-action, and I said ‘even better.” Thus, Waititi’s leap into animation will have to wait, finding a new opportunity to set up a colourful universe of the kind he seems to love so much, and which found its maximum expression in Thor: Ragnarok.

“Taika has a fantastic, interesting idea for this movie,” Davis continues. “And you can only know about it that it’s Taika. It’s what he does. It’s the way he sees the world, he’s the best guy in the world. The funniest guy in the world. And he thinks on a different plane. This film encompasses everything that is special about Taika and his vision. It’s very interestingly similar to the original concept of the comics“. Flash Gordon chronicles the adventures of a handsome polo player who ends up on the planet Mongo starting a revolt against Ming the Merciless – adventures that throughout the original comics took place on a multitude of planets.

Soon after his publishing debut, Raymond’s creature was the subject of numerous serials, but it wasn’t until 1980 that we find a full-fledged blockbuster; the one that apparently influenced Waititi so much. Mike Hodges’ Flash Gordon (starring Sam J. Jones) was born on the back of the success of Lucas’ Star Wars and met with a lukewarm reception that did not prevent it from later becoming a cult title, and without hindering the influx of new TV adaptations. The last was a 2007 series that only lasted one season, and who knows, if Waititi has his way, we may be looking at the start of a new saga.

Source: Collider