Trailer Tuesday: Robin Hood

Ridley “I own too many films in Dan’s Lifetime Top 10″ Scott’s been around the block a few times when it comes to directing swords, dirt, slow-mo “Aaaaaargh”s and men being cloven in the forest thanks to 1492: Conquest of Paradise, Gladiator and the unjustly maligned Kingdom of Heaven. He’s now chalked up another– as we posted way back in April, Ridley Scott’s been hard at work on Robin Hood. So have Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett and William Hurt. Not so sure about the Merry Men, however.

Mincing man-pals aside, the idea of a new take on Robin Hood feels genuinely… unexciting. Where do you go with this one? We know where Scott’s going to take it– a little more gritty, a little more blue filtered and all kinds of beautifully shot. Scott’s got an automatic pass as far as I’m concerned, but I have a feeling we’ve seen this style and story before. So yeah. Been there done that-ism won’t stop me from looking forward to it, but can everyone else say the same?

I guess we’ll leave that prognosticating to 2010. In the mean time, all Scott’s hard work has lead to this one moment: The debut of the Robin Hood trailer here at AATM.

Enjoy:

Ridley Scott Directing Alien Prequel

Looks like Ridley Scott, the director of the soon-to-come (May 2010) Robin Hood, and the mastermind behind such hits as Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Thelma & Louise and Kingdom of Heaven, is set to return the Alien franchise that he started in 1979 and which turned increasingly craptastic after James Cameron’s Aliens sequel in 1986. This go around will be a prequel and will be written by, from all I can see, a hardly known screenwriter named Jon Spaihts. While the project is unnamed and, obviously, has not even been written yet, I think it’s smart of 20th Century Fox to shoot for a franchise restart with the prequel angle. We’ll post more about this project as we learn more, but for fans of the Alien franchise, the return of Sir Ridley is nothing but good news.

Alien Rumored to Have Caught R1B1 Reboot Flu

Horror site Bloody Disgusting has broken a rumor that 20th Century Fox is planning on doing what many geeks and even film purists would call the unthinkable: remaking Alien.

I’m fine with rebooting a franchise in general, but this one makes no sense whatsoever. 30 years after its release, Alien holds up incredibly well and still serves as a pattern from which movies are made and patterned wholesale. A remake of the film seems incredibly shortsighted, especially with the years of prequel talk and a mythology that’s ripe for continuation down other avenues beyond revisiting the original.

In what can only come as small consolation, original director Ridley Scott is slated to produce, with new guy and Scott Free (Ridley/Tony Scott’s production company) veteran Carl Rinsch directing. There’s some potential here, fanboyism aside, but hopefully this stands as simply a rumor or wires crossed with another project.

Seeing as how reboot mania is all the rage, I’m a little pessimistic with a slight chance of optimism.

The New Robin Hood Looks Like the Old Robin Hood, But With More Crowe

Andy and I had a little disagreement a while back. He said the 90′s Costner vehicle Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was crapola. I disagreed. After viewing it again a few nights ago, I think I might have to acquiesce… it might be a little dated and a little silly. Or maybe I wasn’t feeling 90′s action vibe at the time. Either way, I’m sorry, Kevin Reynolds. I’ll still go to bat for Waterworld and Count of Monte Cristo though… but not Tristan + Isolde.

So three cheers for the march of time. Since Prince of Thieves is a full decade and a half behind us, Robin is due for a renaissance: If you didn’t know Ridley Scott was well into filming his next project Robin Hood for a 2010 release, consider yourself informed.

Russell Crowe plays the 00′s version (with William Hurt and Cate Blanchett throwing in some acting prowess as well) and USA Today debuted the first pic earlier today. It’s not a doozy, but with all the Russell Crowe love flowing around here since State of Play, it’s more than enough to feed your daily Russell hit.

Since it’s a USA Today exclusive, click on the cropped portion of the image below to see it in full over there.