You may remember a couple months ago when we reported on what may go down as the dumbest movie news development of 2014: Sony’s idea for an interconnected universe of Robin Hood films.  Despite the fact that the source material has not produced a good movie since 1993’s Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Sony ponied up a whopping $1 million for a pitch called Hood, which envisions a film that kicks off an Avengers-style universe revolving around Robin Hood’s Merry Men.  Now, not only is Sony moving forward with this idea, but Disney is jumping into the Robin Hood fray as well, positioning Nottingham & Hood as a competing take on the source material.  More after the jump.

The folks over at Deadline report that Disney has acquired a revisionist take on the Robin Hood legend called Nottingham & Hood, based on a spec script by Brandon Barker.  Specific details are unknown at this time, but the film apparently has a Pirates of the Caribbean tone and the studio hopes it will launch a new adventure franchise that fits its “global brand.”  Granted, Pirates of the Caribbean sounded like an absolutely terrible idea for a movie at first and Disney spun that into gold, so it’s possible they could do the same thing here.  But the competitive nature of this being set up opposite Sony’s Robin Hood project means the two will likely be rushed, and I’m not sure that makes for the most fruitful of development periods.

Ridley Scott actually developed a genuinely fascinating take on the legend a few years ago called Nottingham, which was to have focused on the Sheriff of Nottingham as the hero instead of Robin Hood.  Russell Crowe was cast, but the project evolved heavily throughout development, next turning into a story about how the Sheriff and Robin Hood are the same person before eventually coming to fruition as a fairly straightforward origin story called Robin Hood.

So which Robin Hood movie will come to fruition first?  Disney’s Nottingham & Hood or Sony’s Hood?  Or will both languish in development hell before fading away?  Time will tell, but I’m not sure anyone’s really clamoring for a new Robin Hood movie anyway.  Not that the studios asked.