Sydney Sweeney is one of the hottest stars in the world right now, whether she's in a fan-favorite co-star coupling with Glen Powell or serving up one of 2024's wildest horror movie endings. Just about any project that she gets involved in immediately starts garnering a lot of interest, but the news that Sweeney could be going sci-fi for a new Barbarella movie is the sort of news that could set the Internet on fire with a futuristic-looking gun.
Barbarella, the controversial erotic comic of the 1960s that was famously adapted into a Jane Fonda-starring film, is now set to be adapted again. While this isn't the first attempt to make a modern Barbarella, this project appears to be moving forward like never before, and Sweeney's star power likely only helps. We’re still in the very early days of this project, so no telling if it'll end up as one of the best sci-fi movies ever, but here’s what we know about the new Barbarella adaption right now.
What Is The Barbarella Release Date?
At this point, it's anybody's guess when we’ll see a new Barbarella movie that's polished enough to hit theaters. Sydney Sweeney's initial confirmation about starring in Barbarella came back in 2022 and the project's wheels have only begun to turn in Hollywood recently. Having said that, even recent progress doesn't indicate just how long it'll be before the new flick can begin filming, never mind gearing up for a merch-filled release in theaters.
Sydney Sweeney’s next big project, outside of the in-flux HBO drama Euphoria, is a biopic about professional boxer Christy Martin, so even if Barbarella's other creative elements come together quickly, she likely won’t be available to film the adaptation before 2025 at the absolute earliest. Add in the extended post-production that will likely be necessary for all the digital effects that a major science fiction tentpole would require, and we’re probably looking at a movie that couldn’t come out before the summer of 2026. If anything takes any longer, or other film projects jump the queue for the cast or crew, we’ll be waiting even longer than that.
Sydney Sweetney Will Lead The Barbarella Cast
At this point, only a single cast member has been confirmed for the new Barbarella movie, and that’s Sydney Sweeney herself for the title role. It will make for Sweeney's first big jump into a genre franchise outside of Madame Web, which didn't work out too well.
Beyond that, since we don’t necessarily know what the new movie will be about, it’s difficult to even guess who might appear in the movie since we don’t know what characters will appear in the script.
There are a few characters from the original French comic who did appear in the previous film adaptation. Professor Ping, an elderly man who assists Barbarella, a blind “angel” named Pygar, and the villain the Black Queen all make appearances in the 1968 film, so there’s a decent chance they could appear in the new version as well. Especially if the new movie turns out to be a remake of the original film, rather than an all-new adaptation of the source material.
Who Will Direct Barbarella?
No director has been officially attached to the new Barbarella movie, but Deadline reports that One Night in SoHo and Baby Driver director Edgar Wright has been approached by Sony and entered talks to direct. Wright agreed to help with early development, but without committing to direct the project juxt yet.
Edgar Wright certainly isn’t a bad choice. He dabbled in science fiction in The World’s End and his hyper-stylized take in fellow comic adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs. The World might be just what a new take on Barbarella needs. If Wright does come on board, Barbarella would presumably have to wait until he’s done writing and directing his adaptation of Stephen King’s The Running Man, which stars Sydney Sweeney’s rom-com partner Glen Powell.
Who’s Writing Barbarella?
While no official writers of the new Barbarella adaptation have been confirmed, the same Deadline report that addressed Edgar Wright’s potential involvement also claimed that mother/daughter duo Jane Goldman and Honey Ross have been approached about writing the film. Goldman is also co-writing The Chain, another upcoming Edgar Wright project, which possibly gives the report more credence.
Goldman wrote the screenplay for X-Men: First Class and the story of Days of Future Past. She also handled script duties for the first two Kingsman movies. It seems likely that a successful version of Barbarella could easily be a franchise vehicle, and Goldman has a history in that.
What Will Barbarella Be About?
Without a script, we can’t know for certain what the story of a new Barbarella movie would be. Considering the character’s original comic book ran from 1964 to 1978, there are plenty of different storylines that could be adapted, assuming that the new movie plans to adapt any of them, as opposed to creating something completely original using the character.
What we can say about a Barbarella movie is that it will be a science fiction movie that sees the title character going on some sort of adventure through space, and it will also involve Barbarella having a not-insignificant amount of sex. Barbarella was a fairly controversial comic in its day due to the fact that it used the kid-friendly medium of comics to depict content explicitly designed for adults.
The 1968 Jane Fonda Adaptation
The 1968 film adaptation starred Jane Fonda as the title character tasked by the President of Earth with the job of finding a scientist named Durand Durand. In this peace-loving galaxy, the brainiac developed a weapon that has the potential to return the concept of war to civilization.
From there the story takes a somewhat episodic, comic book-style approach, that results in Barbarella traveling to different settings, meeting new people, and going on spacey adventures that, frequently enough, involved her having sex with somebody.
Today the movie is seen as a cult classic, but while it was boundary-breaking and seen as a fairly sex-positive and even feminist film in its day, that day has long been past. The sexual and gender attitudes come across as quite dated, doubly so for a future-set narrative. A modern Barbarella certainly has an opportunity to update some of these ideas and by doing so tell a 21st-century Barbarella story.
With Barbarella likely still years away, there’s a lot left to learn about the film. We’ll continue to update details about the film as we get them.
