Flash Gordon, first introduced back in 1934, has long been considered one of the most significant characters in 20th century science-fiction, but his history on the big screen is a bit of a joke. In 1980, director Mike Hodges brought the sports star-turned-space hero into the world of feature films, and the result continues to be one of the most mocked movies of all time for its "so bad it's good" qualities. Thanks to that trainwreck we have spent the last thirty-four years assuming that Flash's time was over, but there is new evidence suggesting that might not be the case.
The website Film Divider is not only claiming that a new Flash Gordon movie is in the works, but that screenwriters JD Payne and Patrick McKay have been hired to write the script. For those that don't recognize the names of the two writers, back in December they made headlines when it was reported they were signed on with Bad Robot to pen the sequel to Star Trek Into Darkness - currently simply known as Star Trek 3. Being newcomers to Hollywood, they don't have any established credits to their name, but if Abrams and the folks behind the Star Trek sequel like them, then they must at least know something about the science-fiction genre.
Admittedly, the source of this story is a bit sketchy, as they never claim where they actually got the story from and have only been established for a very short time. That said, the website MormonArtist.com did an interview with Payne last month and also claimed that he and his writing partner are working on the Flash Gordon reboot. We have reached out to the writers' representation, but have not yet heard back from them either way.
In the original Alex Raymond comics, Flash Gordon was a Yale graduate and polo player who is kidnapped and taken into space by a man named Dr. Zarkov when the Earth is struck by a cloud of meteors. Once he gets to space, Flash lands on the planet Mongo and finds himself fighting against the rule of Ming the Merciless. Here's what it looked like the last time the story was made into a movie:
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