Sony Buys Rights to Avengers-Style Robin Hood Film Universe for $1m

Everyone wants to be Marvel Studios. Since Avengers Assemble broke the mould (and $1bn) at the box office) every known proprietor of superhero films has sought to emulate its success.

Now that desire is spreading throughout Hollywood and beyond superhero flicks, with Sony purchasing a pitch for a cinematic universe built around Robin Hood and his Merry Men for a cool $1m (£622,000).

The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog reports that Cory Goodman and Jeremy Lott are behind the pitch, which is titled just Hood and is said to carry a tone somewhere between the Mission Impossible and Fast & Furious franchises.

So get ready for Robin Hood spin-off films starring Little John, Friar Tuck and Will Scarlet. Yes, Friar Tuck could one day have his very own Hollywood blockbuster. Don't pretend you've never wanted one.

Goodman wrote the critically-panned Priest, starring Paul Bettany, and is working on rebooting the Underworld franchise. With Lott, the pair are also behind a science fiction project called Lore for Warner Bros, which Dwayne Johnson is attached to star in.

Could this work? Anything is possible, and we suppose Robin Hood's Merry Men are sort of the Avengers of 1600s northern England. Until we see something more concrete however, let's file this one under "What are they thinking!?"