It wasn’t long ago that Alexander Skarsgård swung through the jungle on a vine in “Legend Of Tarzan”. Now Sony has bought the film rights to the character and wants to modernise it.
The next attempt to bring “Tarzan” to cinemas as a film franchise is being launched. In 2016 Warner Bros. released “Legend Of Tarzan” with Alexander Skarsgård, Margot Robbie and Christoph Waltz and hoped for a film series – as is well known, nothing came of it. The reviews were too mixed, the box office too poor for the action adventure. But Tarzan is one of those characters who is so iconic that studios will probably try again and again to cast him in film form and thus lure audiences to the cinema – Sony Pictures is now launching the next attempt.
As The Hollywood Reporter reports, Sony has secured the film rights to the character Tarzan, who was invented by Edgar Rice Burroughs in the early 20th century as the hero of a pulp story series. Now the material is to be developed into a new franchise that “reinvents” the main character and his adventures for a modern audience.
FRESH CELL CURE FOR TARZAN
And that’s what’s needed if you want to succeed with “Tarzan”. Because if you take a look at the origins of the character and his story, which is already over 100 years old, you will not only discover gripping adventures in the jungle, but also many stereotypes, uncritical treatment of colonialism and problematic character sketches like that of the “white saviour”.
But before we actually get to see the first of potentially several “Tarzan” films, it will be a while yet. For now, the rights deal is in the bag – everything else still has to be worked out. Thus, neither producers nor script and director are on board yet.
“Legend Of Tarzan” did quite well for us and received three out of five possible stars. Those who want to watch the adventure film by “Fantastic Beasts” director David Yates can currently do so with a Netflix subscription, for example. Disney’s “Tarzan”, on the other hand, is available on Disney+. And if you want to watch Johnny Weissmüller as Tarzan in the classic style, you can order the “Tarzan Collection” with six films on DVD from Amazon, for example.
