Warner Bros.
Having dueling Robin Hood movies in development is an American tradition. Let’s never forget that in 1991 we got to watch Kevin Costner as the English legend on the big screen so soon after seeing Patrick Bergin in the role on network television (and on the big screen if you live outside the US).
But that wasn’t a rare occasion for the prince of thieves. Looking over the IMDb credits for the character of Robin Hood/Robin Longstride/Robin of Loxley/the Earl of Huntingdon/etc., it appears his legacy is carried on in multiple features and TV episodes every year. He’ll even be back on ABC’s Once Upon a Time series this Sunday.
So, it’s not surprising that there are currently three major motion pictures focused on the artful archer. One of them is a brand new addition to the bunch called Robin Hood: Origins, which hopefully will receive a new name at some point. If for no better reason than it’s being described as “gritty” and that’s hardly a hardcore-sounding title.
According to Deadline, this movie’s own origins are with writer/producer Joby Harold, who is also responsible for the MCU-influenced King Arthur franchise that Guy Ritchie is kicking off. Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way is also on board.
Don’t confuse that with the MCU-influenced Robin Hood franchise that Sony is making. Previously known as Hood, the start of that enterprise is written by Cory Goodman (Priest) and Jeremy Lott. Deadline does think that there’s a possibility of the two movies being combined as one, however.
Also don’t confuse it with Disney’s Robin Hood movie, which surprisingly isn’t a remake of its own 1973 animated feature and involving performance-capture-based animal characters (see Disney’s upcoming live-action Jungle Book, itself a project dueling against another version). That one, titled Nottingham & Hood and written by Brandon Barker, is a “revisionist” take said to be aiming for a Pirates of the Caribbean tone.
Of course, there are also smaller entries into the history of Robin Hood movies also in development, including Robin Hood and the Prince of Aragon from director Brandon Slagle (Dead Sea), another project described as a “vibrant pop punk retelling,” as well as a future-set sci-fi movie called Robin Hood 2058 scripted by American Sniper writer Jason Hall.