Tarzan isn’t exactly what you’d call a popular character in the current culture landscape. While folks age 24 and older may fondly remember the 1999 Disney movie, the most recent version of the character Warner Bros.’ 2016 film The Legend of Tarzan starring Alexander Skarsgard and Margot Robbie, didn’t exactly have audiences clamoring for more. But since we’re doing movies for basically anything, it’s time to grab a vine and see if luck will swing twice.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Sony’s now in control of the screen to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic pulp hero. First on the docket is a new film that’s said to be a “total reinvention” of the character and property, whatever that means in this context. (Maybe they take him to space?) No creative team has been attached yet, but that news will come in time. Sony often does its damnedest to get particular movies into production and in theatres, and this feels like one they’d work really hard to make a reality.
Tarzan’s had a long history of being adapted to movies, TV, and even audio dramas. For the former, it all began with Elmo Lincoln as the adult version of the Ape Man in the 1918 silent film Tarzan of the Apes. Lincoln would portray the character in two sequels, then the role would go to actors Gene Pollar and Frank Merrill in 1920 and 1928, respectively. But the most popular live action Tarzan would arguably be Johnny Weissmuller beginning with 1932’s Tarzan of the Apes. Weissmuller played Tarzan for a dozen films and stands as the longest-lasting Tarzan on screen.
But the most important question surrounding Sony’s Tarzan is such: will they find a composer to score the film who can outclass Phil Collins, or will they try to get Collins back to do this? Is Disney working on a Tarzan remake, as they are with Hercules, Little Mermaid and every other childhood 90s film that helped make it famous?
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