That’s it, we’ve reached peak “shared universe” stupidity.  Game over.  Thanks for playing.  Sony is poised to purchase a pitch for a Robin Hood riff called Hood for a whopping $1 million against $2 million.  Why so much for an adaptation of well-worn territory, you ask?  Heat Vision reports that the pitch involves positioning the film as a franchise starter with an Avengers-style universe revolving around Robin Hood’s band of Merry Men.  You read that correctly.  Sony is developing a rival to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the form of a Merry Men Universe featuring Friar Tuck, Will Scarlett, and of course Little John.  More after the jump.

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Image via Universal Pictures

The “Avengers-style universe” idea for a Robin Hood franchise is dumb in and of itself, but it gets better/worse.  Heat Vision reports that the tone of Hood is described as being in the vein of Mission: Impossible and the recent Fast & Furious movies, which is in keeping with the theme of the “team” aspect of the potential franchise. The pitch comes from Corey Goodman and Jeremy Lott, who are responsible for a sci-fi project set up at Warner Bros. called Lore.  Additionally, Goodman wrote the gritty actioner Priest as well as the upcoming Vin Diesel-fronted fantasy film The Last Witch Hunter and the Underworld reboot.

The story of Robin Hood, of course, comes from English folklore and revolves around a morally ambiguous hero who steals from the rich and gives to the poor.  The most recent high-profile adaptation was from director Ridley Scoot, whose 2010 film Robin Hood starred Russell Crowe and turned the tale into a gritty adventure epic that essentially told the origin story of the hero.

It’s not enough that filmmakers like David Fincher and Steven Spielberg have trouble getting mid-range dramas financed, but to see studios make big gambles on stuff like this—again, an Avengers-style shared universe Robin Hood series—is depressing on so many levels.  There’s always the possibility that Hood could be good, but it’s disheartening to see that pitches like this are what get studios into bidding wars.  It’s no wonder some of our best filmmakers are moving to television.

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Robin Hood Shared Universe Movie Sony