godisawesome
Sidekick
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2011
- Messages
- 4,075
- Reaction score
- 872
- Points
- 103
Even Ivanhoe's fallen into public domain, at least in the US, and that was the last really huge mythology defining story, what with tying Robin right into the quarrel between John and Richard, featuring an outlaws-storm-the-castle sequence, and the whole Saxon Vs Norman subplot.
Now with these four films, I'm curious how they approach any franchise ideas. Because in spite of how stupid "pulling an Avengers" sounds, Robin Hood does have the potential for multiple films, kind of like King Arthur. The Merry Men are a large collection of colorful characters with pop-culture footprints, and some, like Little John and Maid Marian, have held multiple books on their own. And event he villains have potential: the Sheriff is a classic archetype of corrupt government, Prince John has rarely been an underperformed character in these stories, Guy of Gisborne has a fanbase of fanatics to deploy, and you've got characters like Red Roger and the Prioress to expand,a nd the entire cast of historical characters like Geoffrey Plantagenet, John and Richard's half-brother, Sheriff of Yorkshire and Archbishop of York.
The biggest idea I would have would be to cast Robin Hood as a Nick-Fury-like connecting character, albeit as a major antagonist or supporting character. Imagine seeing the story of a whole ballad, but played in reverse perspective, where after a film full of adventures that have frayed his nerves and temper, Little John runs into some smirking little piece of crud on a log bridge. Or maybe, in the mini-holocaust that followed Richard's coronation, Maid Marian has to seek help from a cunning but compassionate outlaw and they have a connection. Or maybe Guy of Gisborne is trying to weasel his way out of outlawry and back into a knighthood by helping the Sheriff defraud a humble knight from Lea, only to find himself in an outlaw vs. outlaw battle.
Now with these four films, I'm curious how they approach any franchise ideas. Because in spite of how stupid "pulling an Avengers" sounds, Robin Hood does have the potential for multiple films, kind of like King Arthur. The Merry Men are a large collection of colorful characters with pop-culture footprints, and some, like Little John and Maid Marian, have held multiple books on their own. And event he villains have potential: the Sheriff is a classic archetype of corrupt government, Prince John has rarely been an underperformed character in these stories, Guy of Gisborne has a fanbase of fanatics to deploy, and you've got characters like Red Roger and the Prioress to expand,a nd the entire cast of historical characters like Geoffrey Plantagenet, John and Richard's half-brother, Sheriff of Yorkshire and Archbishop of York.
The biggest idea I would have would be to cast Robin Hood as a Nick-Fury-like connecting character, albeit as a major antagonist or supporting character. Imagine seeing the story of a whole ballad, but played in reverse perspective, where after a film full of adventures that have frayed his nerves and temper, Little John runs into some smirking little piece of crud on a log bridge. Or maybe, in the mini-holocaust that followed Richard's coronation, Maid Marian has to seek help from a cunning but compassionate outlaw and they have a connection. Or maybe Guy of Gisborne is trying to weasel his way out of outlawry and back into a knighthood by helping the Sheriff defraud a humble knight from Lea, only to find himself in an outlaw vs. outlaw battle.
