Flash Gordon on the big screen

[John M. Whalen]

Here's a short piece on the new Flash Gordon feature film.

http://dailycartoonist.com/index.php...to-big-screen/

Flash Gordon heading to big screen
Posted by Alan Gardner
July 16, 2010

Director Breck Eisner is currently making a Flash Gordon movie based on on the comic strip that began in 1934. Airlock Alpha reports Eisner?s intentions and talks about the business of making remakes.

Now, fresh off of ?The Crazies,? director Breck Eisner is prepping to revive ?Flash Gordon? for a new generation. With the goal of making it intelligent, edgy and immensely loyal to the original canon, Eisner has no intention of retreading the same ground as those before him. Instead, he will bring the comics to life with the latest technology at his disposal.

?The comic from 1930s was made into serials in the ?50s and ?70s, then the director?s version in the ?80s,? Eisner told Airlock Alpha. ?It was campy and the effects were not so good ? this version is in no way a remake. Our version goes back to strips from ?30s and we will update those and shoot the movie as if the strips were drawn today. It will be an action and adventure sci-fi.

Eisner's starting out with the right intentions, but it's still a long way from the final film.

[erazmus]

I shudder every time anyone gets a hold of iconic American cultural heroes of the past and takes them to Hollywood. I've seen big screen adaptations of The Shadow, The Spirit, Doc Savage, Flash Gordon, The Lone Ranger, Popeye, Superman, Batman, and Spider-man and only the big, currently still selling properties have ever been done even half well. (Okay, I kind of liked the Spirit movie, but I can't say it was done well.) And most get destroyed for a generation and you can't talk about them anywhere because some idiot who only knows from the recent movie has to butt in with his or her two uninformed cents worth.
I'm sure this project (if made) would be better than Delaurentis's(sp) Flash Gordon, because there is no way you could touch any of his projects and not do a better job. I doubt it will be as much fun to watch as the 30's serials (you know, the one's starring Buster Crabbe) are even now. Needless to say, I am a pessimist when it comes to this sort of project.

Mike