For those of you who were fans of Guy Ritchie‘s earlier, grittier, more indie-style works like “Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels,” “Snatch.” or even “RocknRolla,” and are hoping he might return to that kind of fare….you’ll have to keep waiting. Ritchie revitalized his career by going franchise, and has made Warner Bros. very happy helming the “Sherlock Holmes” films starring Robert Downey Jr., which combined have brought in over $1 billion worldwide. Not surprisingly, they want him to do the same with another property.
Ritchie has been hired on to direct the long-developing “Treasure Island” at the studio, a project Paul Greengrass was flirting with at one point. Alex Harakis is penning the script, though it’s not quite clear what this new take on the Robert Louis Stevenson classic will involve. But if we were to guess, and based on “Sherlock Holmes,” it will only loosely follow on the source material, and will feature a wise-cracking lead who partners up with a sidekick for many homoerotic adventures. Or something. But it’s likely that this is being developed as a franchise, as these things tend to be. And we’re guessing there will be some slo-mo cannon blasts or swinging from masts or whatever.
But what will actually come next for Ritchie? Hard to say. Back in December he took over Warner Bros.’ “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” after Steven Soderbergh exited the project, though nothing on that has been heard since and he’s apparently got a “RockNRolla” sequel ready to go, but he’s just waiting for the right time to do it. But like most top tier directors, he’s developing a few things at once, and as soon as something begins to gain momentum, that will likely be what gets put into his day planner. [Deadline]
There was no better director for this?
Yawn. Another literary classic gets a lame blockbuster franchise. Also, I so wish that U.N.C.L.E. with Clooney and Soderbergh would have worked out.