1980s Box Office Death to 2020s Cinematic Resurrection
In the 31 years old English actress Hannah John-Kamen, known for her roles in series like HBO’s Game of Thrones and Netflix’s The Stranger and Hollywood movies like Ready Player One (2018) and Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), has been cast as the titular character in the upcoming ‘Red Sonja’ reboot.
“I can hear her love call for you, and I won’t fail the two of you… so swears Sonja of Hyrkania!”
Wait, wait. Who is Red Sonja? Never heard of her.
Pronounced as Red SONYA and brought into the comics by Ray Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith in 1973, the character Red Sonja was inspired by Red Sonya of Rogatino and Dark Agnes de Chastillon, both created by the famous 20th century American author Robert E. Howard, well known for creating Conan the Barbarian and his fictitious Hyborian Age tales.
“I don’t need eyes to find you, I can smell you at a hundred paces!”
She had her own comics? What comics?
She made her comic book debut in Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian comic book issue number 23 before headlining her own comic book in 1975.
“No man touches Red Sonja! Death to the Man-Spider!”
Cool! So what’s her backstory?
Red Sonja and her family were from Western Hyrkania i.e. Eurasian Steppe southeast of the Caspian Sea in modern geography. When she was 21, a group of mercenaries slaughtered her entire family before the warband sexually assaulted her. Scathach, the red goddess from Irish mythology, answered her cries for revenge by bestowing Red Sonja with phenomenal fighting skills on one condition: she should never lie with a man unless he defeats her in a fair combat.
“No man may have me, unless he’s beaten me in a fair fight.”
So there’s a reboot coming. What about her original movie?
Back in the 80s, the ‘sword and sorcery genre movies were today’s superhero movies. After the massive success of Conan the Barbarian (1982) and Conan the Destroyer (1984), many others followed suit with some of them ending up in box office hits. Hence, a movie based on Red Sonja movie was inevitable. Directed by Richard Fleischer, Red Sonja was released on 3rd July 1985 in the United States to a very underwhelming response. The plot was fairly simple and cliché. It narrates the journey of a tormented warrior woman Red Sonja as she seeks revenge for her family’s murder much like in the comics. She lives in the kingdom ruled by Queen Gedren of Berkubane, a tyrant who oppresses her subjects with an iron fist. Red Sonja is also trying to free her people from the evil clutches of the queen and her minions.
“No half-baked Hellhorde slays Red Sonja.”
Sounds like a cool movie. What went wrong?
The movie had the perfect formula for a blockbuster sword and sorcery movie: sexy fitness models clad in bikini-armor swashbuckling their way through hordes of minions lead by an evil sorcerer in prehistoric ages. Despite, the presence of stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan the Barbarian and the charming new-comer Brigitte Nelson as Red Sonja, the movie fared poorly with the audiences and especially the critics.
The ‘statistical doctors’ suggest that the fantasy adventure movie underperformed when it came to the box office collections earning around 7 million dollars to a budget of 18 million dollars. Brigitte Nelson definitely looked the part with her sensuous beauty but she fell short in delivering a decent acting performance to captivate the audience. Not to mention that the movie had nothing new to offer that the audience hadn’t already seen in other sword and sorcery movies. Although an argument can be made that the 80’s audience was not prepared to accept a strong female lead movie.
“If danger is a trade, I’ll learn it myself.”
If the movie was a failure, then why the reboot? Why not move on?
Despite being a box office bomb, the makers had already planned for a sequel. Much of this had to do with the fact that despite poor reviews, Red Sonja had gained a cult following amongst the fans and was also deemed to be a popular viewing on the television. There were multiple attempts to get a sequel for the original movie but none of the production houses wanted to risk it as Sword and Sorcery genre fatigue had reached a peak amongst the general masses by the end of the 80s. Hence, if a reboot was to happen in today’s era, it could be a different story especially since there have been no good sword and sorcery movies intended for a mature audience in the past decade. Plus, we could always use a different genre due to the superhero galore fatigue.
“I know my future. You have none.”
Are you a fan of the sword and sorcery genre? Have you seen the original Red Sonja? For more on Red Sonja and other movies, make sure to check our website.
