With the growing edict that a movie is not really a movie unless it is six movies, all interconnected by a sprawling mythology, Warner Bros. has naturally been chasing a modern update of the original fantasy franchise that isn’t the Bible: the legend of King Arthur. And while it stopped just short of attempts to develop David Dobkin’s Arthur And Lancelot and a Guy Ritchie-directed remake of Excalibur, Warners is now reportedly ready to commit to a Ritchie-led retelling of Arthurian legend spread across six whole films—to start. Deadline reports that the script for the first chapter has already been drafted by Awake writer Joby Harold, whose only previous dalliance with fantasy involved believing that Hayden Christensen and Jessica Alba could carry a movie, and that this lays out the foundation for at least five more movies to follow, not counting the inevitable Merlin spinoff.
Harold’s version would replace the King Arthur concept Ritchie was reportedly working on with Trainspotting’s John Hodge in 2012—though there’s no indication yet of how his take differs. (Fewer mead overdoses?) Still, Guy Ritchie is apparently very anxious to apply his stylized slow-motion and spinning camera angles to knights swinging swords, and this dovetails nicely with Warner Bros.’ desire to keep theaters tied up with fantasy franchises for decades at a time.