Taika Waititi’s Animated Flash Gordon Movie Is Now Live-Action

Two years ago, Taika Waititi was hired to take a crack at an animated Flash Gordon movie, but in a recent interview timed to the release of Disney’s Jungle Cruise, producer John Davis told Collider that the project is now being developed as a live-action film. “Taika is writing it. It was a movie that was a huge influence on him growing up. It is one of his favorite movies. He initially said to me, ’Let’s do it animated.’ I said, ’Okay.’ Then we got into it and started developing it and he said, ’No, let’s do it live-action.’ I said, ’Even better.’“ Flash Gordon is based on the 1930s comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond, who created the character to compete with Buck Rogers. The comic strip followed the adventures of Flash Gordon, a handsome polo player and Yale graduate, and his companions Dale Arden and Dr. Hans Zarkov, who travel to the planet Mongo where they come into conflict with its evil ruler, Ming the Merciless. The property was turned into a 1980 space opera film starring Sam J. Jones as