This news story is rather short, but nonetheless very much worth everyone’s attention. Deadline has the exclusive scoop, that Fox and Disney have set Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi to take a “crack” at a Flash Gordon animated movie. Waititi’s reps were quick to mention that it’s not know if he will direct or write the feature. All we know is that he’ll for sure be tackling the story side of things. That in and of itself, it reason to be excited.
The project has supposed has been in the works for a while, stalling out a few times. Before falling at the feet of Waititi, Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) and Julius Avery (Overlord) were previously attached. There’s no word on what caused both directors to back out. If the reasoning was “scheduling conflicts”, it’ll be interesting to see how Waititi makes room for this. Again, as this is but very early stages, things can change in an instant.
While many people’s immediate thoughts concerning Flash Gordon are tied to the 80’s film, he’s been around for much much longer. First popping up in a comic strip in the early 30’s, Flash became a household name, thanks to the movie serial of the late 30’s and early 40’s. He eventually made a short-lived jump to television in 1954. Interestingly enough, a possibly basis for this new film could be an animated series, The New Adventures of Flash Gordon. Running from 1979-82, it closely resembled shows like Jonny Quest and Space Ghost. The recently iteration was a live-action TV, that ran for one season on the Sci-Fi Channel, back in 2007. What direction the new take goes in, is anyone’s guess. Animation is a solid choice, given the wild imagination Waititi is known for.
How this all fits into Waititi’s busy schedule, is the main question. He recently had to drop out of the Netflix animated film Bubbles, about Michael Jackson’s chimpanzee companion, due to conflicts with Akira. He’s currently in post-production on JoJo Rabbit, before jetting off to work on that giant manga adaptation. As Akira has a May 2021 release date, there’s a ticking clock component involved. Even if he is only working on Flash Gordon in a story, co-writing or producing capacity, it now has our full attention. Once we know more on the project, we’ll update you right away.
