Taika Waititi is working with Disney to bring an animatedFlash Gordonmovie to the big screen. Details are scarce at the moment, but it is believed Waititi is on board to write and direct the project. Fox was reportedly trying to develop a live-action take for years, but it looks like it is finally moving forward as an animated feature now that it is in Disney’s hands. Waititi is now in the post-production phase for his upcoming comedyJojo Rabbit, which is due to hit theaters later this year.
Kingsman’s Matthew Vaughn andOverlorddirector Julius Avery have been attached to variousFlash Gordonprojects over the years, but nothing obviously ever came of those iterations.Taika Waititishould be able to do something pretty interesting with the property, especially in the animated realm. The character has been in pop culture a lot recently, thanks to Seth MacFarlane’sTedmovies and has become a cult favorite after a pretty cheesy movie in 1980. Not even a soundtrack by rock group Queen was able to help that live-action version when it came to being a hit at the box office, though the theme song has proved to be quite memorable.
It is believed Taika Waititi’sFlash Gordonmovie will tackle the origins of the hero. The character was created in 1934 as a science fiction comic striporiginally drawn by Alex Raymond. The comic strip was meant to compete with Buck Rogers. Over the years, the character has had several TV shows and different comic strips. While the 1980Flash Gordonmovie isn’t the greatest sci-fi adventure of all time by any means, it has gained a significant cult audience since it hit theaters nearly 40 years ago. Will Waititi bring someone in to do a cover of the Queen theme song? One can only hope.
While Taika Waititi is certainly busy these days, thanks to his work onThor: Ragnarok,The Mandalorian,Jojo Rabbit,What We Do in the Shadows, and more, his schedule did just open up a bit. The director was originally attached to helmBubbles, aNetflix stop motion project based on Michael Jackson’s chimpanzee. While Waititi left the project due to “scheduling conflicts,” it is widely believed the project has been put on the backburner after HBO’sLeaving Neverlanddocumentary came out with multiple allegations of child molestation.
Flash Gordonwill be a completely different project for Taika Waititi and one has to wonder what he will do with the seemingly limitless possibilities of working in the animated realm.Thor: Ragnarokwas a colorful blast of energy that at times strongly resembled an animated movie. Regardless, Waititi is sure to do something different and unique with theDisneyproperty andFlash Gordonfans are more than likely just happy to know that there is some forward movement with the project after years of waiting for Fox to do something.Deadlinewas the first to report about the Taika Waititi andFlash Gordonnews.
