‘Flash Gordon’ Movie To Be Directed By Matthew Vaughn
By The Movie God
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Thursday, April 16th, 2015 at 11:00 am
Matthew Vaughn, the director of Layer Cake, Stardust, Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class, and Kingsman: The Secret Service, has entered into negotiations to direct a movie based on the classic comic strip Flash Gordon.
We found out a year ago now that 20th Century Fox had acquired the rights to try to make a movie based on the comic after multiple studios including as Universal, Sony, and others tried and failed to pull it off. At the time it was also revealed that J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, who penned a draft of the script for Star Trek 3 before Simon Pegg and Doug Jung took over, were penning Flash Gordon. That remains unchanged, with the duo having penned a draft based on a treatment by George Nolfi.
Here’s a description of some of the adventures Flash and his companions got into in the comic strip. It’s unclear how much—if any—of this will be used in the movie when it finally gets made:
The comic strip follows the adventures of Flash Gordon, a handsome polo player and Yale University graduate, and his companions Dale Arden and Dr. Hans Zarkov. The story begins with Earth bombarded by fiery meteors. Dr. Zarkov invents a rocket ship to fly into space to find where the meteors originate. Half mad, he kidnaps Flash and Dale and they travel to the planet Mongo. The meteors are weapons devised by Ming the Merciless Mongo’s evil ruler.
For many years, the three companions have adventures on Mongo, traveling to the forest kingdom of Arboria, ruled by Prince Barin; the ice kingdom of Frigia, ruled by Queen Fria; the jungle kingdom of Tropica, ruled by Queen Desira; the undersea kingdom of the Shark Men, ruled by King Kala; and the flying city of the Hawkmen, ruled by Prince Vultan. They are joined in several early adventures by Prince Thun of the Lion Men. Eventually, Ming is overthrown, and Mongo is ruled by a council of leaders led by Barin.
Flash and friends return to Earth and have some adventures before returning to Mongo and crashing in the kingdom of Tropica, then reuniting with Barin and others. Flash and his friends travel to other worlds and return to Mongo, where Prince Barin, married to Ming’s daughter Princess Aura, has established a peaceful rule (except for frequent revolts led by Ming or by one of his many descendants).
Flash Gordon has been turned into movie in the past, in 1980 starring Sam Jones, and in the ’30s and ’40s starring Buster Crabbe.
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Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press
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