Hollywood is gunning for your fables, fairy tales and classic stories. Last night alone, brewing movies “Frankenstein” and “Cinderella” boosted their respective casts with Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, and this weekend “Jack The Giant Slayer” hits theaters (our review) followed by “Oz The Great And Powerful” (our review) next Friday. And now Robin Hood is getting dusted off and reimagined, because, obviously.
Producer Neal Moritz (also behind ‘Giant Slayer’ and the “Total Recall” remake, among other less impressive credits), screenwriter Brad Igelsby (“Out Of The Furnace“) and director Scott Waugh (“Act Of Valor,” “Need For Speed“) are bringing you “Merry Men,” with DreamWorks putting their bow and arrow behind the project. This will be a tentpole project (duh), and the twist? It’s actually centered around Little John, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian and Will Scarlet, with a heist plot said to be in the vein of “Ocean’s Eleven” and “The Dirty Dozen.”
Of course, the question is, how is this a Robin Hood movie without Robin Hood? But we suppose calling a movie “Medieval Heist” probably doesn’t sell as well. So, shrug, whatever, throw this one into the development pool and see if it will swim. Given the Moritz track record, we’re not holding our breath that this won’t be mostly simple and loud. And it’s far from the only Robin Hood game in town: there’s a futuristic take over at Warner Bros. with “Turistas” writer Michael Ross penning the script, while the Wachowskis at one time had their own version entitled “Hood” that they wanted Will Smith to star in.
So yeah, at least one of these movies will be coming to steal money from your wallet to give to the studio moguls. [Deadline]
