For years there’s been talk of a new Flash Gordon movie, but it’s been trapped in development, partly because they couldn’t figure out how to make it work, and partly due to rights issues. However now THR reports that 20th Century Fox has picked up the screen rights to Flash Gordon, with Star Trek 3 writers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay attached.
The studio spent more than a year trying to agree a deal to get the rights from the Hearst Corporation, which owns Flash Gordon. But now they’re ready to move forward.
George Nolfi wrote the initial draft of the screenplay, which will now be reworked by Payne and McKay. The Flash Gordon comic strip was created by Alex Raymond in 1934, becoming a classic cinema serial starring Buster Crabbe in the 30s and 40s. It was turned into a movie Flash Gordon, which quickly became a camp cult classic.
In the original comics, Yale graduate and polo player Flash Gordon was kidnapped and taken to the planet Mongo, where he does battle with Ming the Merciless alongside friends Dale Arden and Hans Zarkov. The tone of this new version is said to be similar to J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek, full of “adventure and razor’s edge escapades, balanced by plenty of character work.”
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