A New RED SONJA Film is Going Into Development Because of WONDER WOMAN's Success
It looks like another big screen adaptation of Robert E. Howard's Red Sonja is going into development. Hollywood has been trying to get a new Red Sonja film off the ground for years.
Robert Rodriguez was attached to develop a movie based on the badass female warrior at one point with Rose McGowan, then Simon West was going to take it on with Amber Heard in the lead role. Later on, Christopher Cosmos (Game of Thrones) was hired to write a new script. The last I heard about the film, came last year when X-Men director Bryan Singer was reportedly developing it.
With the current popularity of Wonder Woman, it's not surprising that someone would want to get rolling on the Red Sonja feature film. According to Deadline, Millennium Media will finance and produce the film. They also say that the production company is putting the project on the fast-track to development and they are currently looking to hire a writer. Producer Avi Lerner had this to say in a statement:
“We have been waiting for the right time for this remake and with the success of Wonder Woman, the audience has spoken. They want female heroes.”
Red Sonja made her comic debut in Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian #23 back in 1975 from writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith. She was loosely based on Red Sonya of Rogatino in Robert E. Howard's 1934 short story "The Shadow of the Vulture."
I've been a fan of Red Sonja for years. She is the greatest swordswoman of the Hyborean Age and more than a match for any man in combat. She has become the archetypal example of the strikingly beautiful warrior woman clad in her iconic bikini-like armor.
The 1985 Red Sonja film starred Brigitte Nielsen and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to the recent report, this new film will "be different, with fresh story ideas and characters."
Hopefully they bring on a team of talented filmmakers to give us a great film!