No brainer – Get Jason Momoa!
In every series of Stargate (even Universe) there have been brilliant characters that all Gaters want to see back on our screens as part of any new project but it seems Amazon are determined to make a movie.
And that could be a problem!
Now a straight to cinema movie is great, I would love to see my favorite Sci-Fi franchise back on the big screen however it comes with a risk, quite a big one in fact. What happens if the movie is a box office dud? Let’s be honest too, the Box office is not what it used to be, something has changed and the classic rules for what makes a summer box office smash or failure seem to have changed. Who guessed the biggest movies of the year so far (Time of writing Sept 2023) would be the Barbie Movie and a Mario cartoon. Movies like The Flash and Indiana Jones are making massive losses and even though they may not be the greatest films ever made, you would at least expect them both to break even…right?
So is a Movie a bad idea?
It may be a slightly old fashioned idea but traditionally if you want to kick-start a franchise, you take it to the BIG screen and that seems to be what Amazon are thinking. I have to be honest too, I kind of love the fact that Amazon seem to trust the franchise enough that they think a cinema release is deserved. If Amazon are putting their money where their mouth is and are really serious about making Stargate as big as Star Trek then a cinematic release is the way to go and I applaud it.
As I say though there is a risk… if the movie bombs that will kill the return of the franchise barely before it gets chance to get going.
So how do producers make the movie a success? Well again the traditional answer is to attach a big name to the project and in this case we have the perfect man. Jason Momoa.
When Ronon Dex hit of screens in series 2 of SGA I knew Momoa was going to be a big Hollywood hero at some point in the future. Obviously he is a big guy but he also has charisma… buckets of it… He has a cheeky smile that I bet let him get away with murder when he was a kid and lets be honest, still does. He can actually act too, we saw that in several epidodes of SGA, he was not always just the hard man of few words, sometimes he had to show some emotion and WOW did he in episodes like Broken Ties (ep.3 Season.5).
Of course there is a problem… COST. Jason Momoa can now demand a decent paycheque for any movie he appears in and a starring role may cost 10 or even 15 million dollars. For a movie that all the rumors being whispered to SciTrek suggests that Amazon intend quiet a modest budget with modest expectations.
But is it not at least worth a phone call?
Actors in the past have accepted smaller initial paypackets for a cut of the profits after, its something that has made Robert Downey Jr. a very very wealthy man when he signed up for Iron Man and Mike Myers will be living off the Austin Powers money forever!
It may just be that Jason Momoa remembers that Stargate gave him his big break and maybe Ronon Dex is a character he would like to revisit? Amazon, you wont know if you don’t ask!
So pick up the phone and ask!!