Taika Waititi has so many projects lined up it’s tough to keep track. A couple of years ago he even boarded a Flash Gordon reboot, the character really made famous in the 1980 film led by Sam Jones and Max von Sydow. But this wouldn’t be just another movie for Waititi, because the plan was for it to be animated. Well, that plan has changed and it will instead be live-action.
The news comes from chatty Jungle Cruise producer John Davis, who can’t stop spilling the beans on Predator 5 and a new Waterworld project. He told Collider that Waititi decided during discussions that Flash Gordon should be live-action, and Davis agreed with him…
“Taika is writing it. It was a movie that was a huge influence on him growing up. It is one of his favorite movies. He initially said to me, ‘Let’s do it animated.’ I said, ‘Okay.’ Then we got into it and started developing it and he said, ‘No, let’s do it live-action.’ I said, ‘Even better.’”
If anybody can make this work, it’s Waititi. Flash Gordon centers on the titular All-American athlete who is transported to space where he battles the evil Meng the Merciless. The sensibilities are pretty goofy, and as we’ve seen from Waititi in Thor: Ragnarok he can make the sci-fi/fantasy stuff funny as Hell. He can make anything funny, actually.
This is just one of many things Waititi has coming up, including an Akira remake, an untitled Star Wars movie, and of course, Thor: Love & Thunder. He also has the soccer comedy Next Goal Wins already shot and due to be released soon.
