Breck Eisner Tapped to Helm 'Flash'

(FROM VARIETY) – Breck Eisner (Sahara) has been tapped to direct a live-action Flash Gordon movie for Sony Pictures Entertainment. The studio came up as the winner of a heated bidding war over rights to Alex Raymond's 1930s comic strip, about handsome polo player Flash Gordon, who is taken to the planet Mongo with love interest Dale and the mad scientist Dr. Zarkov. There, the trio meet the evil ruler Ming the Merciless as well as Hawkmen, Sharkmen, and other interesting individuals. The strip launched a successful movie serial in the 1930s, starring Buster Crabbe, who later played Buck Rogers, and then inspired a 1980 film that starred Sam Jones as Flash and featured a soundtrack by the rock band Queen. The franchise has also had several TV incarnations, most recently a Sci Fi Channel series starring Eric Johnson. Eisner is currently working on a remake of The Creature From the Black Lagoon as well as a remake of zombie master George A. Romero's 1973 horror flick Crazies. Eisner also directed the premiere episode of the upcoming NBC horror anthology series Fear Itself. (Variety)