Legendary Entertainment Set to Produce BUCK ROGERS Reboot

Legendary to Produce Buck Rogers Reboot

Legendary Entertainment is now finalizing a deal for the screen rights to the Buck Rogers franchise after months of negotiations.

Sources say Legendary — the studio behind the highly anticipated Dune adaptation that also produced Godzilla in 2014 and Kong: Skull Island in 2017 — is hoping for a box office hit that will pave the way for a highly profitable franchise. If all goes well, plans will be set in motion for a prestige television series as well as an anime production.

Don Murphy and Susan Montford will co-produce through their Angry Films banner, a studio whose credits include Transformers and Real Steel.

The deal is a significant achievement for Legendary and Murphy, who spent years waging legal battles against the heirs and estates of the authors and publishers of the original stories.

The Buck Rogers character first appeared in a story titled Armageddon 2419, which was published in a 1928 issue of pulp magazine, Amazing Stories. Written by Philip Francis Nowlan, the comics follow the story told of a man who becomes trapped in a cave-in, get frozen in suspended animation, and wakes up centuries in the future. Once there, he becomes entangled in a war between various factions in what was once America.

The comic was originally published in 1929 by the John F.  Dille Company. to great popularity across the country. In 1979, NBC produced a short-lived series titled Buck Rogers in the 25th Century starring Gil Gerard and Erin Gray that introduced Twiki the robot sidekick, Dr. Theopolis the talking computer worn around Twiki’s neck, and a bird man named Hawk. More recently, comics artist Frank Miller tried his hand at a film adaptation in 2008, though but it never got off the ground.

The comics also brought on many imitators, the most famous being Flash Gordon. Even Looney Tunes created a parody of the space adventurer in the Daffy Duck series Duck Dodgers.

The deal marks the acquisition of one of the few remaining intellectual properties of 20th century pop culture not already in corporate hands, allowing for a much bigger franchise to be built up around it. Legendary and its co-producers will now be looking to secure a writer and other film talent.

Leave your thoughts on the upcoming Buck Rogers film below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons. Readers seeking more movie news can visit our Movie News Page, our Movie News Facebook Page, and our Movie News Twitter Page. Want up-to-the-minute notification? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Flipboard. This movie news was bought to our attention by The Hollywood Reporter.