Following the success of Wonder Woman in 2017, Millennium Media announced that it would finance and produce a reboot of Red Sonja, which is a project that has been in some stage of development for many years. Then last year, director Bryan Singer became attached to direct the film and a new Red Sonja looked closer than it’s ever been to actually happening. But now Bryan Singer’s Red Sonja is officially on hold.
In comments to Deadline, Millennium Films stated that Red Sonja is not on its slate at the moment and that the film is not for sale at the European Film Market, the trade fair that is currently going on during the Berlin International Film Festival. This move comes after Red Sonja was on Millennium Films’ slate just last November at the American Film Market where director Bryan Singer pitched his vision for the film to international buyers.
But a few months time clearly changed things for Millennium and now the project has been pushed to the back burner. No reason was given for why Red Sonja has been put on hold or when we might expect to hear more about the project’s future.
While it might be easy to assume that this move has to do with the various allegations made about Bohemian Rhapsody director Bryan Singer, who was set to helm the film, he has not been officially removed from his role, for which he is reportedly commanding a huge payday.
Although the cast for Red Sonja had not been set, the film was expected to shoot this year in Bulgaria after languishing in development hell for a decade. Now Red Sonja’s stay in development hell has been extended. We are left to once again wait and see what happens. and if this current iteration of Red Sonja makes it to the finish line someday or undergoes behind the scenes reshuffling before trying again.
This is a big move for Millennium Films, because the studio clearly envisioned Red Sonja as a title with a lot of potential. In an age where female-led films are not only more accepted, but have proven lucrative, a movie about a vengeful badass redheaded heroine could really connect with audiences. Red Sonja would also be a big-budget action-fantasy movie, exactly the type of thing audiences might be thirsting for after Game of Thrones wraps up.
Red Sonja is based on a character that first appeared in Marvel Comics Conan the Barbarian and made her big screen debut in a 1985 film starring Brigitte Nielsen. In her original story, Red Sonja suffered the murder of her family and a sexual assault before rising up to seek revenge thanks to some powers granted to her by a goddess.
We’ll keep you updated about what the future holds for Red Sonja as news becomes available. In the meantime, check out all the movies you can look forward to this year in our 2019 Release Schedule.
