In 2015, 20th Century Fox was quickly moving ahead with the Flash Gordon remake and Matthew Vaughn was set to direct, but since then, we have not heard a lot about the movie. Well, there is a reason for this and Vaughn had revealed that he has been working on this movie, but the original vision was taken by Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Woah, now that’s sad and frustrating isn’t it? This is what the director had to say:
“Yeah, we’ve been working on it. For me, the only problem with Flash Gordon is Guardians (of the Galaxy) kind of stole what I would have liked to have done with it. You’ve got Star Wars, you’ve got Guardians, so you’ve got to have your own space opera, but you have to find something that can survive among these two very, very great franchises.”
Vaughn had said this during his interview with Collider when he was promoting the Kingsman: The Golden Circle. The project was in different stages of development for almost 10 years, and the very first report came in August 2008 when Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama had been brought in for the Flash Gordon remake. Director, Breck Eisner had been brought on aboard in 2010, but he soon backed out.
By 2014, there was a report that Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne had been brought in by Jon Davis, but before those writers, George Nolfi was working on its script. By 2015, Matthew Vaughn was attached to this movie. When he had been asked if the adaptation will happen, he had this to say:
“The way I choose films is when I know I have to make it. Simple as that. There will be a moment where I can’t think of anything else other than getting behind a camera and shooting a movie. It’s a very hard switch to click; once it’s on, nothing stops me.”
The Flash Gordon franchise has been steeped in history and goes back all the way back to the comic strips which were created by Alex Raymond in 1934. The comics then spawned numerous movies like Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers (1936), Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars (1938) and Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940).
There had also been a 1979 animated TV series, The New Animated Adventures of Flash Gordon and a 1980 movie which starred Sam J. Jones and last but not least, we had Flash Gordon (2007 to 2008).
