With the commercial success of 300 it was only a matter of time before someone decided to revisit the HERCULES franchise, someone other than Sam Raimi that is. Now in development is HERCULES: THE THRACIAN WARS, an adaptation of a five-issue comic book series from Radical Publishing and writer Steve Moore.
Set to produce and direct the feature is Peter Berg, director of the Will Smith summer blockbuster HANCOCK. Berg is also expected to helm a new adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel “Dune.”
Radical Pictures producer Barry Levine mentions something about the story resonating because it’s character driven. All I want to know is which version of Hercules are we getting? So far, we can point to Steve Reeves smothered in olive oil, Arnold Schwarzenegger going berserk in New York, Disney doing the animated version, Kevin Sorbo playing Kevin Sorbo on TV, and even Bolo Yeung in a moment of inspired western marketing for THE CHINESE HERCULES which actually has nothing to do with the mythical son of Zeus.
Based on the cover art alone, THE THRACIAN WARS looks like a darker, more rugged depiction of the original He-Man than we’ve seen before. If the producers play their cards right, they could have a new successful franchise on their hands.
It’s also reported that John Woo is set to direct another adaptation from a Radical Publishing comic book series titled CALIBER. The series re-imagines King Arthur and his knights as 19th-century gunslingers in the Pacific Northwest. Take this news with a grain of salt, however because not only is Woo neck-deep in his two-part RED CLIFF epic at the moment but there is a long tradition of attaching Woo’s name to projects that he never ends up directing.
Source: Variety
Related Topics:John Woo • sword and sandal
