Hollywood just can’t stop trying to drag loin-clothed jungle warrior **Tarzan **back to the big screen. Warner Bros. has been leading the charge, developing not one but two projects based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ hero and has now landed Hustle & Flow director Craig Brewer to craft a new film.
Deadline reports that the vine-swinging one is something of a passion project for Brewer, who has now signed a deal to create a story that can work not just across one movie but also spawn a potential trilogy (because what’s a big studio effort these days without the chances of a franchise?)
After finishing up work on the Footloose reboot for Paramount, he’s apparently hoping to make Tarzan his next film. Should you be unaware of the big T’s origins, here’s a quick refresher: left alone in the jungle when his aristocratic parents die unexpectedly on an expedition, young Tarzan is raised by apes and learns to respect his animal friends. But trouble arises when he discovers his origins.
Warners has been looking to make a new film on the character for more than seven years, and with Brewer attached it might finally happen. It remains to be seen what happens to the competing idea at the studio, with Jack Ryan reboot writer Adam Cozad having penned a script that tells an alternate version of Tarzan’s origins.
And there are other competitors out there in the Holly-jungle: just last year, Resident Evil producers Constantin Film made a deal with director Reinhard Klooss (gezundheit!) to create a 3D animated version that is still bubbling along in development.