Sony Pictures made a deal to acquire Tarzan rights from the Estate of its author Edgar Rice Burroughs. The author was a prolific American writer who published several novels, however Tarzan still his most known character until today. The Studio has not specified plans related to the character yet, since the project is in its earliest stage.
Tarzan appeared the first time as a character in All Story Magazine in 1912, later that year the first novel entitled Tarzan of the Apes was published. Rice Burroughs wrote 23 sequels of the novel, which indicates that there are broad possibilities surrounding Sony’s new acquisition.
The topic of Tarzan seems to be a trope in storytelling that resembles to the myth of Romulus and Remus, and to the character, Mowgli.
The famous character is a human of British origins who was raised by Mangani apes in the African jungle after his parents passed away while stranded. He grew up as one of the Mangani, later in adulthood he becomes “King of the Apes”. Tarzan first has contact to humans being a grown-up. Mangani apes are a fictional variety of apes created by the author. In some adaptations, for example 1999`s Disney animated one, the Mangani are replaced by gorillas.
Tarzan has been broadly adapted to screen. In 1918, only 6 years after publishing the novel, the first film adaptation was released, entitled Tarzan of the apes starring Elmo Lincoln as Tarzan. The last adaptation seen premiered in 2016 with Alexander Skarsgard as the lead.
110 years have passed since the novel and the interest in the character is still alive. We will be expecting what Sony Pictures has to add to this classic.
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