Sony Pictures has picked up the film rights to “Tarzan” from Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc., according to an individual with knowledge of the project.
The studio is looking to do a total reimagining of the intellectual property for modern audiences.
No producer, writer or director were thus far attached to the property Friday.
According to an insider with knowledge of the property, “Tarzan” has been in the public domain since January 2020.
Written and created by Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1912, “Tarzan” centered on the son of a British lord, who was marooned in the African jungle and raised by apes. Tarzan would grow up and discover civilization, only to reject it and return back to the jungle as a heroic adventurer.
The book spawned numerous sequels and the property would go on to dominate popular culture for decades via movies, serials, radio shows, TV shows and comic strips. Disney made an animated “Tarzan” film in 1999 that became a hit and spawned a Broadway adaptation.
In 2016, Alexander Skarsgard took a crack at the character in “The Legend of Tarzan” which was released by Warner Brothers, but the film didn’t take off or launch a franchise.
The Hollywood Reporter first reported the news.