Disney is developing Nottingham & Hood, a revisionist new "Pirates of the Caribbean" take on the Robin Hood mythos.
After a millennium of nostalgic folklore for “stealing from the rich and giving to the poor,” it would appear that the character of Robin Hood is looking to spread some of that wealth in the other direction, as he is now the subject of two shared movie universes in development.
In a surprising move, Disney (not hurting for shared universe franchises) has picked up the spec script Nottingham & Hood from first-time scribe Brandon Barker with the aim of launching a shared universe franchise around Robin Hood and (presumably) his merry men.
Described as a “revisionist” take on Sherwood Forest, Deadline reports that Disney views Nottingham & Hood as akin to Pirates of the Caribbean for the medieval highwayman’s adventures.
This is in almost direct challenge of Sony Pictures who announced in October that they purchased a pitch by Cory Goodman and Jeremy Lott (for a seven-figure some) for a shared Robin Hood universe, one in which it would supposedly be like The Avengers and Mission: Impossible with Robin of Locksley in the Ethan Hunt/Tom Cruise role.
Warner Bros. meanwhile is staking a claim with Guy Ritchie in developing a six-film “shared” universe series about King Arthur beginning with 2016’s Knights of the Roundtable: King Arthur, starring Charlie Hunnam and Astrid Berges-Frisbey. Perhaps they too will want to head over to Nottingham, after all they produced arguably the two most famous Robin Hood films to date, Michael Curtiz’s 1938 masterpiece The Adventures of Robin Hood, starring Errol Flynn in the titular green cap and Olivia de Havilland, and 1991’s less revered Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, starring Kevin Costner and Alan Rickman.
Of course, Disney is no stranger to the Robin of the Hood either, as they produced the 1973 animated film Robin Hood, in which the outlaw truly was cunning like a fox. That movie…was less so.
Sony and Disney are going head-to-head and soon we’ll learn who hits the bullseye first.
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