Disney has begun work on a new, non-animated franchise based on the legendary forest-lurking archer/larcenist, Robin Hood. According to Deadline, the studio is developing Hood, based on a “revisionist” script by newcomer Brandon Barker called Nottingham And Hood. And if that sounds familiar, it’s because Sony recently announced its own revisionist Robin Hood franchise, also called Hood.
Sony’s Hood, however, is being planned as an Avengers-style universe, with a series of films on the interconnected adventures of Robin and his very spin-off worthy Band of Merry Men. Disney—despite owning that Avengers-style universe, which has inspired everyone from DC superheroes to Universal monsters to follow suit—is for now just planning its Hood as an adventure franchise similar in tone to Pirates Of The Caribbean. (Sony’s Hood is said to be similar to “Mission: Impossible and the recent Fast & Furious movies.”) The studios are now locked in a footrace through Nottingham Forest to cast an appropriately crowd-pleasing star as a sexy, shirtless Friar Tuck.