Having conquered the realms of music, telecommunications, sports, food, medical and environmental research, healthcare, international diplomacy, air (and soon, outer space) travel, acting, record-breaking feats of sailing, and feathered hair, exceedingly rich man Richard Branson is making a genuine foray into the film business with the spec script Columbus, about explorer Christopher Columbus and his “discovery” of America, executed several centuries before Richard Branson got the chance to do it himself, even though we all know he would have done a better job.
In keeping with the rest of his ostentatious lifestyle, Branson has chosen McG as the project’s producer, and the two are hoping to make the story “300-style,” which we’re guessing means lots of Native Americans ass will be kicked, roundly and in 3D. That would seem to be the only hope the film has of generating audience interest, anyway, as the last couple of Columbus films—Ridley Scott’s 1492: Conquest Of Paradise and John Glen’s Christopher Columbus: The Discovery—were box-office failures. Fortunately for Branson, even if no one goes to see his Columbus, he could afford to buy up all the unsold tickets and turn it into the next Avatar if it be his will.
