Flash Gordon has long been due for a reboot, and it looks like the 85-year-old sci-fi property has finally found the perfect man for the job.
Taika Waititi, the writer and director of 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok, is now attached to spearhead a new animated Flash Gordon film. Deadline reports that Fox, under new leadership from Disney, is looking for Waititi to “crack” the reboot after many years in development hell. And frankly, if anyone can do it, it’s Waititi. Ragnarok — a hilarious, exciting, and colorful sci-fi adventure — was honestly the closest thing we’ve had to a Flash Gordon movie in years, and we’d be shocked if that film’s writer/director didn’t already have some awesome ideas on how to update the classic pulp hero.
Now before you scoff at the idea of the film being animated, it’s worth pointing out that an animated take on Flash Gordon could be a unique, low-risk way to reboot the property. Other live-action space operas from any brand not named Marvel or Star Wars haven’t fared so well in recent years (think box office bombs John Carter, Jupiter Ascending, and Valerian), so any studio may deem an expensive live-action reboot of an ancient and campy property like Flash to be too big of a risk. But a low-cost animated movie from one of the hottest directors in the genre could very well become a hit, which may even pave the way for a live-action revival down the line.
There’s no word yet on when this new Flash Gordon could arrive, or even what role Waititi will have in the production (it’s assumed he’ll write and direct, but that’s unconfirmed at the moment), but there is one thing we can say for sure: Gordon’s alive!
