ST New Flash Gordon Film versus Sequel Trilogy

Someone in one of the threads brought it to my attention yesterday that Twentieth Century Fox, having sold the rights to Star Wars to Disney, are planning to make a new Flash Gordon film. I have since found a few scant details about the project on these pages:

http://time.com/73485/flash-gordon-movie/

http://www.stack.com/2014/05/01/flash-gordon-movie/

It is obviously very early days for this project and there is no way this film would be out in time to compete with SW7 but I am wondering if it will be put out at the same time as SW8 or one of the spin-off films. Do we think Twentieth Century Fox will be able to successfully ride Star Wars' coat-tails with it or will it be perceived as a cheap cash-in on the renewed interest with Star Wars? I presume they would never put the two films out head-to-head, so it will be released to cinemas at another time of year but there is the risk that the saturation level SW will achieve may mean audiences are less inclined to see another SF adventure. Also, unless it is updated in an intelligent manner, an historical piece of SF like Flash may fail in the way that the John Carter film did.

Of course, there is the deep irony that Lucas only conceived of SW in the first place because he could not obtain the rights to make a Flash Gordon film.

It would be interesting to see if Fox could build Flash up into a viable franchise again, since it has been so hard done-by in recent years (the awful SyFy series being the prime candidate.) Indeed, Fox will have to do a good job of creating and marketing this film to overcome the stigma against Flash that series left, not too mention the impression that Flash is a silly, camp comedy left by the cult 1980 film.

Finally, as one of the articles linked above states, "Star Trek 3 writers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay signed on to write the script." I have not heard of these people (I am surprised to learn that Bob Orci won't be writing Star Trek 3 but I have to confess that I am relieved that he and his colleagues won't get their hands on my beloved Flash since I am far from being a fan of their work.) is anyone familiar with Payne or McKay? Any thoughts or opinions about their work?


FWIW, I grew up watching reruns of the 1979 Filmation cartoon series, so I have a deep affection for Flash Gordon. It is only in recent years that I saw the original 1930s serials though and I can see how much Lucas was inspired by them.

Given the close links between SW and Flash Gordon I thought it would be interesting to have a discussion thread to keep track of this project since it will be of interest to most sequel trilogy fans.

 

If only Freddie were alive to do the soundtrack!

 

LOL. if only...

No, seriously, looking forward to a serious take on the character again, more inline with the Filmation stuff hopefully.

 

I think we've found our Flash Gordon director!

 

LOL - I was just thinking that after I posted it! Why not? After all, he has the time on his hands now to get around to doing what he always really wanted to do!

 

Yes, I admit the thread lacks focus a bit - my fault. I just heard about the film and because of the close relationship between SW and Flash, it is interesting to see that Fox have acquired the rights and are trying to reinvigorate it now. We all know how lots of films and shows came out riding the coattails of the original SW in 1977 (Battle Beyond the Stars, Last Starfighter, the original Battlestar Galactica and so on) so the Flash remake runs the risk of just being seen as an SW derivative anyway.

I agree that Fox run the risk of people not caring since the market will be so saturated with these SW films and their spin-offs and, yes, how they will attempt to overcome the stigma of that 1980 film will be interesting to see.

Back to that question I left in the first post though - does anyone know the two writers involved? What has their previous work been like? They have evideontly taken over Star Trek 3 from Orci and co as well, so does anyone have any confidence in them to produce some good SF films?

 

i love the 80's version. didn't hold a candle to sw but it had it's own charm. love the sky fx.

 

I have no confidence in anyone to do anything. That being said, I'd laugh like a madman if George gets hired to direct Flash Gordon.

 

I hope they keep that amazing theme song.

 

After Star Wars: Episode VIII, JJ's gonna leave the franchise because it's always been his dream to direct a Flash Gordon film.

 

Did I miss something? FOX still owns distribution rights on Episode IV in perpetuity, and the other five Star Wars films through 2020. Disney bought Lucasfilm, and has rights on future films only.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tangled-rights-could-tie-up-384541

If they want to make a cash grab from Episode VII hype, all they need do is re-release the Saga in theaters in Fall 2015.

 

I'd love to see an alternative space opera catch on during the Disney era of Star Wars, but even if it's fun Flash will probably crash as hard as John Carter. I think the Avatar sequels will remain the best bet for something in roughly the same ballpark keeping box office pace. A lot of people are already writing off that film as a one hit wonder, but personally I wouldn't bet against Cameron.

 

A producer with two scriptwriters is a far cry from a greenlit movie. I'm a FG fanatic (although I can't stand the 1980 movie) and I'd love to see this happen but it's far from being something solid enough to compete with E7. Flash hasn't been a "viable franchise" since the 1930's; it will be a hard sell. If done right I see another John Carter - a beautiful film for fans that doesn't reach general audiences.

 

Tonally, Star Wars and Avatar are very different from each other, having said that however being able to say that you've directed the two most financially successful movies ever made is nothing to sneeze at.

 

I guess I don't feel like Star Wars counts against my general sci-fi appetites. It's almost like a category of its own, so whether or not a Star Wars movie comes out doesn't really change how much I do or don't want to see a Prometheus, Moon, Jupiter Ascending, etc. I would imagine many fall into the same category. So whether Flash Gordon goes head-to-head with Star Wars doesn't mean much to me.

But while I love the idea of Flash Gordon, I don't remember ever seeing an execution of that idea that was particularly exciting on a level that went beyond keeping my kid-self occupied. I guess it has a long way to go with me. Is there some awesome Flash Gordon comic/show/game/something that I missed?

 

I agree with all of that. The only hope I have is that there have been some successful reboots of seemingly dead franchises in recent times: Doctor Who was dire in the 1980s and the last two Star Trek films before Abrams came along performed abysmally at the box office. Hence, I think there is a slender thread of hope that they can pull it off if they learn from these other examples.

rdhight - Have you seen the Filmation cartoon series? Still aimed at kids but it is probably the most palatable Flash for modern (post-1970) tastes.

UPDATE: Here is the film cut of the cartoon series:

 

The Filmation series was the best screen version before they had to pull the plug on the serial adaptation of the strip & dumb it down. That was my first exposure to FG, probably in 1980. That great theme takes me back to getting up before anyone else in the house to watch Flash Gordon, it must have been on on 7 or 7:30 am!



Then I discovered the original Alex Raymond strip in reprint books:





In the mid 80's PBS started showing old movie serials late on Saturday nights and I taped all of the Buster Crabbe Flash Gordon (Universal) serials. They still take me back to those summer nights. Buster Crabbe is still my hero




I even found tapes of the radio show:



By the time I saw the 1980 movie (in 1989) I just could not accept it. I still can't. I'd love to see a big budget film version that respects the original strip!

 

I've never really cared about Flash. Maybe I'll see it.

 

Yes, the Filmation series was my first exposure too. I would have been slightly after you, watching re-runs sometime in the early to mid-1980s over here.

Since you are a big fan, don't EVER watch the SyFY series or you will have an apoplectic fit. It is THAT bad.

Thanks for sharing all those images. Here is one more for you. I had a copy of this readalong cassette and book when I was a kid:

 

@EchoBase: Nice image, thanks!

Oh man, I had just managed to forget the SyFy channel series ha ha!! You reminded me! Another bad one was the TV series from 1954. It was filmed, I believe, in post war Berlin and was used as some kind of misguided "we are the world" U.N. propaganda: totally boring, dreary little morality plays with lots of stupid changes to the characters & setting.

Matthew Stover wrote a FG novel that has never been published! Look it up.

 

Thank you for posting the Filmation FG!