EXCLUSIVE: As Paramount ramps up for the November 9 release of his horror film Overlord, Julius Avery has been set by Fox to write and direct Flash Gordon. This is the potential tent pole that once had Matthew Vaughn circling to direct. Vaughn will instead produce the film with John Davis and Hearst, whose head of film is C.J. Kettler.
Avery is an Australian director who made his debut on the Alicia Vikander-Ewan McGregor-starrer Son Of A Gun, and he made Overlord for Paramount and J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot. The film premiered at Fantastic Fest, and has been scaring up good reviews with the horror cognoscenti so far, scoring a 93 on Rottentomatoes.com as it gears up for a November 9 release. Avery grew up in Australia loving the Flash Gordon comic. He pitched his take and the studio and studio sparked to it and set him.
Flash Gordon is an adaptation of the pulp comic-strip hero who originated in 1934, with Flash pitted on the planet Mongo fighting its tyrannical ruler, Ming the Merciless. It was most famously adapted for the screen through the Buster Crabbe serials, but Seth MacFarlane’s Ted gave some serious hero worship of the 1980 campy Flash Gordon movie that starred Sam Jones as the character.
Fox senior vice president Matt Reilly is shepherding the film. Avery is repped by UTA, Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Gang, Tyre; Vaughn is WME and Brillstein.
Here’s a look at the final Overlord trailer, which looks pretty badass:
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