That new Robin Hood movie trailer. My thoughts as an author of Robin Hood novels.

“So when are they making your Forest Lord books into a movie?”

I’ve had quite a few people asking me that on social media as a trailer for the new Robin Hood movie has just been released by Lionsgate.  Here, watch it yourself if you haven’t already, and see what you think. I’ll wait.

Okay, comments I have seen for this movie have been almost entirely negative. “Costumes are too modern”. “Looks like Arrow.” “Why is little John Black?” “Is it a Batman/Zorro thing?” I even noticed quite a few people saying the Russell Crowe movie was better than this, which doesn’t bode well for anyone who remembers his bizarre accent in that.

The only people who seem to be excited for this movie are women who like the lead actor’s “trademark wink” and jawline. Which is fair enough, but you can have good looking guys/women AND historically accurate costumes and stuff too.

If you remember, I was once approached by a major (major!) Hollywood film producer regarding the rights to my second book, The Wolf and the Raven (read more about that HERE). Ultimately, it never came to anything but it was a pretty amazing thought.

Do I think my book series would make a good Robin Hood movie? Yes, absolutely! I stuck closely to the original legend, there’s plenty of action, and it’s as historically accurate as I could make it while keeping the story engaging and exciting. “Brutal, bloody, brilliant!” one reviewer said, and I’m not about to disagree with that.

 

 

Anyway, I think the main problem this new Taron Egerton/ Jamie Foxx movie has is not that it looks rubbish. It doesn’t really – it just doesn’t look much like Robin Hood. When you use a character like that people expect certain things – and surely those people are your target audience? Why call a movie “Robin Hood” then make a film that seems to bear little relation to the historical legend people know and love? The producers have enraged potential moviegoers before the thing has even been released, as you can see if you look at the comments on Youtube and Lionsgate’s own twitter feed HERE.

Why didn’t they use a character from a fantasy series instead of England’s greatest medieval hero? Didn’t they learn from all the terrible versions of King Arthur we’ve been subjected to over the years?

Sadly, it seems like the negative hype might make this movie a flop, and that is a shame. Yes, I wish a producer had taken my books and made them into a movie, but honestly, ANY Robin Hood movie can only be good for my sales. The better a movie does, the more people get interested in the subject matter and will check out other versions – such as my Forest Lord series. So, yeah, it would be good if this film was a massive hit, everyone spent the summer talking about how great a legend Robin Hood is, and my book sales soared as a result of the hype.

But, like I say, the fact the movie looks more like a fantasy, and a very American one at that, than a British historical action thing, is pissing off, well, everyone it seems! And I know exactly how they feel – as a huge fan of the Judge Dredd comics I was horrified when the Sylvester Stallone film came out!

I hope people ignore the name of the new movie and check it out as a fun adventure piece because if it DOES tank, producers and people in marketing will think, “Oh, no one is interested in Robin Hood,” and kill any future celluloid versions and my dreams of great wealth along with them!

So go see the movie. Hopefully it kicks ass. I liked Jamie Foxx’s performance in Annie, he’s a good actor, so it shouldn’t be all bad.

And if you’re a movie producer, check out my books. They’d make AMAZING movies, trust me…Hey, they managed to get Dredd right eventually with the awesome Karl Urban in the lead role, eventually someone has to do a truly great version of Robin Hood, right?

Check out my books HERE if you want to read a more traditional take on the legend. They’re FREE on Kindle Unlimited so take a look.