The new Red Sonja movie encounters another major setback as it reportedly loses Ant-Man and the Wasp star Hannah John-Kamen and director Joel Soloway. Based on Robert E. Howard's short story of the same name and Roy Thomas' Marvel Comics character, the heroine first made her way to the screen with the 1985 film starring Brigitte Nielsen in the central role. Red Sonja revolved around the fearless warrior as she set out to avenge her family's murder at the hands of the tyrannical and evil Queen Gedren.
Also starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sandahl Bergman, Red Sonja debuted to generally negative reviews from critics for its poor direction, miscast performers and dull pacing, with Schwarzenegger himself looking back on it as one of the worst films he's ever made. The film was also a financial failure, only grossing $6.9 million against its $17.9 million. Despite this failure, efforts have been made over the years to bring Red Sonja back to the big screen and now the latest attempt has hit its own speed bump.
Nearly a year after she was cast in the lead role, The Illuminerdi has brought word that the Red Sonja movie has reportedly lost Ant-Man and the Wasp star Hannah John-Kamen. Additionally, director Joel Soloway has reportedly departed the project, though not reason was given by the publication's sources as to their departures. The outlet also reports that M.J. Bassett has been set as the new director for the film and production is eyeing a late 2022 start date. Screen Rant reached out to producer Millennium Films and John-Kamen's publicist for comment, but received no response by the time of writing.
Development on a new Red Sonja has been in the works for nearly 15 years, with Robert Rodriguez first working on a version with Rose McGowan leading the cast in 2008 that would eventually fall apart while Simon West would later acquire the rights in 2010 with Amber Heard eyed to star. This incarnation would similarly languish and die in development hell before Avi Lerner and Joe Gatta would bring the rights to Millennium Films with Ashley Miller set to script and Bryan Singer originally attached to direct before being let go due to sexual abuse allegations leveled against him. The new Red Sonja had seemingly found life in 2019 as Joel Soloway signed on to write, direct and produce while 2021 brought word of Tasha Huo being tapped to co-write the script and John-Kamen attached to star.
With no word from the studio or the talent themselves at the time of writing, the validity of John-Kamen and Soloway's reported Red Sonja movie departures is difficult to determine, however with Thor star Jamie Alexander having revealed she received a script for the film, a new star may already be set. Additionally, should reports of Bassett being set to helm the film be true, it would at least point towards the new adaptation still being on track to make its late 2022 production start date with someone familiar with the genre as Bassett received strong reviews for her work on Solomon Kane. Only time will tell as development continues on the new Red Sonja movie.
Source: The Illuminerdi
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