"Flash Gordon" Gets Writers: Is This Exciting?

Filmmakers sure are mining the heck out of comic book superheroes these days, aren’t they? Now another one is getting the big-screen treatment — Sony’s Flash Gordon — but I can’t say I’m all that excited about it, for some reason.

After Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and The Dark Knight (I’m sure I’m missing some), could it be possible I’m getting burned out on superheroes? Are you?

Flash Gordon is moving ahead at light speed, with writers Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless signing to pen the script. The story centers on a young polo player who’s kidnapped and taken to the distant planet Mongo. He and companions Dale Arden and Hans Zarkov embark on a series of adventures fighting a ruler named Ming the Merciless.

The live-action film began life as Alex Raymond’s comic strip, was a movie serial in the 1930s, a Sam Jones-toplined feature in 1980, and a recent Sci Fi Channel series.

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Breck Eisner is set to direct the sci-fi flick, with a 2010 release date planned. The project had originally been set up at Universal, but rights reverted to Hearst’s King Features Syndicate after the project sat in development for several years.

Sazama and Sharpless are also penning Dracula Year Zero for Universal (another vampire flick!) and Zack Snyder’s Cobalt 60. Busy guys. I talk to a lot of filmmakers, and they all say it’s good to be busy, because you never know when the bottom will drop out of any given project.

Image: Amazon.com