Sony's Medusa (2016 - 17???)

http://www.toonzone.net/2014/06/holy-hair-snakes-sony-gives-medusa-whirl/

Lauren Faust - pray for her to succeed on this. That is all.

Interesting premise. Medusa always did seem like one of the (many) people in Greek myth who just got a raw deal for no real reason.

Could be pretty swell. I'm not that worried.

My relationship with Faust's work is casual at best, but I love me some Greek mythology.

They're trying to make a tragic tale of Greek Mythology into a cookie - cutter comedy. I don't see this working out, no matter who's attached to it. That, and we all know it will be focus grouped to death, instead of adhering to Faust legitimately artistic vision. I have every right to be afraid and/or worried for this one.

Definitely keeping an eye on this. I loves me some Greek Mythology, Lauren Faust hasn't disappointed me yet in her outputs, and it's nice to see studios being less averse to having movies with a female lead (Taking a quick glance at Sony Pictures Animation's film releases, it looks like this will be their first).

Though... this will be the first time that Lauren will direct a movie, right? If it is, I hope she handles the transition from TV to Film well.

edited 5th Jun '14 4:25:57 PM by Servbot

Seems like Sony Animation is poaching all the former CN animators.

Actually the hair of snakes bit wasn't what turned people to stone, it was her ungodly hideous cursed face. But then no one wants to see a movie about an ugly main character. So we get yet another Cute Monster Girl flick. Yay.

What? Oh yeah, the Progressively Prettier page explains it well:

I wonder if her husband will also be able to work on a movie at some point.

I think Craig will do a Disney movie. I mean... He IS working on Disney Channel/XD as we speak.

I keep hearing people say this will be on the cutting room floor within a year to make another Smurfs/Transylvania movie.

A animated feature about the Greek goddess Medusa by Lauren Faust herself.

Hm....Consider me interested.

edited 6th Jun '14 12:59:59 PM by TheLemsterPju

Pray for Faust. THAT IS ALL.

I want this to succeed but there are several things making me hesitate to get excited about it.

• It's Sony Animation, which recently announced their entire move to Vancouver to save on money.
• The way they describe it sounds incredibly generic and only trying to cash in on the current CGI animation trends.
• Sony isn't very consistent with what they develop and what actually gets made. Most of the projects they develop never get past the pitch stage. Hotel Transylvania took around a decade to surface!

I'm not normally one to care about such things as Sadly Mythtaken, except as trivia, but this is just...I can't even put words to it. Medusa is pretty much the LAST Greek myth-centric story you should look at and say "Hey, let's turn this into a feel-good comedy for children."

Faust is awesome, but she's not a miracle worker.

Next they'll turn Pasiphaë and the Cretan Bull into a Rom Com.

My only guess as to why they picked this premise as a film, is to follow on the heels of Wicked, Frozen, and Maleficent, all covering a misunderstood, angsty, female anti-hero, since they appear to be big hits. ...the only problems are that as opposed to these 3, Medusa hasn't ever gotten a decades-old franchise storyline so she was no established fanbase or demographic, and it turns out Maleficent was awful!

edited 12th Jun '14 1:58:50 PM by kyun

As long as this movie doesn't make Athena into some kind of good guy at some point in the plot. Both her and Poseidon were total assholes in this story. Unless they're doing the "Gorgon family is all like that genetically" angle, of course.

I also wonder how they're going to handle the whole Doomed by Canon bit with Perseus.

edited 12th Jun '14 2:14:58 PM by KnownUnknown

Wait, if Medusa was so ugly, then how Perseus was able to kill her by using his shield as mirror?

And yes, there is definitely trend going on here. Well, at least unlike Maleficent, Medusa actually has at least a hint of being sympathetic character (being turned into monster by angry goddess.) I don't think Snow Queen had any redeeming qualities, but Frozen was loose adaptation to say the least.

The same way as with Dorothy and Phillip killing our protagonists in Wicked and Maleficent: Make him into an incompetent moron who failed at the one thing he's famous for.

You know what would make a good story is Arachne. Provided you use the "She intentionally mocked the gods" version rather than the "She was better than Athena" version.

She gathers together a Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits and learns the value of friendship or whatever, then shows up at Athena's place and shows she has learned humility and Athena turns her back into a human and everyone lives happily ever after. Except for that one guy that everybody hates.

edited 12th Jun '14 4:08:33 PM by Eagal

Specifically, being turned into a monster by an angry goddess because a horny god raped her in angry goddess' temple, which is why I don't mind a more sympathetic portrayal since she's less "Rarr, I'm a monster!", and more "Yet another example of the gods' general dickery towards mortals with a hint of society's blame-the-rape-victim mentality".

Though, they'd probably tweak the backstory to something Lighter and Softer since, you know, kid's movie.

I would have thought it was less "Blame the victim" and more "The victim takes the blame because the perpetrator is above the law".

I can't even call this hyperbolic since it's so miguided. You would be really hard-pressed to explain what the actual problem with re-interpreting these particular storytelling elements is when there are approximately two and a half different versions of the Medusa myth to begin with. Greek mythology can't even keep itself straight, since it was updated, misremembered and tweaked even in the time that people believed it as a religion. Being faithful to the source material, in this case, is kind of a joke.

I have zero problems with writers using cool and iconic concepts like Medusa and fitting them into the current zeitgeist of popular culture.

edited 12th Jun '14 4:59:40 PM by BornIn1142

Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale, in-bred daughters of Phorcys and Ceto, the equally inbred children of Pontus and his mother Gaia.

edited 12th Jun '14 5:09:32 PM by Eagal