Red Sonja: is really possible to translate this character to live action.

[AndrewCrossett]

Elements of a successful Red Sonja movie:

1. Cast a lead who doesn't just look good in a chainmail bikini, but who can act, perform action sequences, and handle fight choreography.

2. Give the character some personality... not a stony-faced cypher who speaks in Conanesque monosyllables. And give her some moral ambiguity... she shouldn't be a heroic goody-goody.

3. Don't rely on a solid wall of CGI. Use practical effects and save the CGI for when it's really effective. See: Game of Thrones, or the fantasy movies of the 1980's. Think of how good the Harryhausen films still look today, without a computer in sight.

4. Don't go to slo-mo and jump cuts every time there's a damned fight scene. Choreograph it, get actors and stunties who can do the choreography and a director who can direct it, and let the action flow. You don't enhance dancers by showing them in slow motion, and you don't enhance fighters that way either. Study episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess.

5. Use humor, but not to the point of parody. Get a writer and director who can derive humor naturally from the story (like Whedon, Gunn, etc.) and not just shoehorn jokes in here and there where the formula says you should insert a wisecrack (Michael Bay).

[Carabas]

Elements of a successful Red Sonja movie:

1. Cast a lead who doesn't just look good in a chainmail bikini, but who can act, perform action sequences, and handle fight choreography.

2. Give the character some personality... not a stony-faced cypher who speaks in Conanesque monosyllables. And give her some moral ambiguity... she shouldn't be a heroic goody-goody.

3. Don't rely on a solid wall of CGI. Use practical effects and save the CGI for when it's really effective. See: Game of Thrones, or the fantasy movies of the 1980's. Think of how good the Harryhausen films still look today, without a computer in sight.

4. Don't go to slo-mo and jump cuts every time there's a damned fight scene. Choreograph it, get actors and stunties who can do the choreography and a director who can direct it, and let the action flow. You don't enhance dancers by showing them in slow motion, and you don't enhance fighters that way either. Study episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess.

5. Use humor, but not to the point of parody. Get a writer and director who can derive humor naturally from the story (like Whedon, Gunn, etc.) and not just shoehorn jokes in here and there where the formula says you should insert a wisecrack (Michael Bay).

6. Under no circumstances have an actual chain mail bikini. Unless you're going for parody.

[AndrewCrossett]

6. Under no circumstances have an actual chain mail bikini. Unless you're going for parody.

It's a fact that a large portion of this character is sex appeal. She has to have a sexy costume, though not a degrading one. See: Wonder Woman, Xena.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

The bikini is a double edged sword, there's the side of it that Sonja uses it as a way to get her male enemies focusing on how much skin she is showing and throwing them off their game and yes there's the obvious reasons for it as well...

[AndrewCrossett]

The bikini is a double edged sword, there's the side of it that Sonja uses it as a way to get her male enemies focusing on how much skin she is showing and throwing them off their game and yes there's the obvious reasons for it as well...

I doubt the sexual distraction factor would be a very large one, and certainly not with worthy opponents. She probably gets just as much advantage from being a woman warrior in a male-dominated world, and underestimated as a result. Once she becomes famous, however, both the underestimation factor and the distraction factor would no longer hold.

No serious warrior would ever wear that little protection, not matter how confident she is in her ability to not get hit. It would be foolish and arrogant of her, and those aren't traits one would associate with a character like that.

Red Sonja's chainmail bikini came about because her comic was marketed to young boys who liked to look at sexy girls in skimpy outfits. She can't dress like that in the movie, but she doesn't have to wear a burqa either. They need to find a middle ground between sex appeal and plausibility, like they did with Wonder Woman.

Brigitte Nielsen's outfit in the 1985 movie was probably a reasonable compromise, although not much else about that movie was any good.

[Carabas]

It's a fact that a large portion of this character is sex appeal. She has to have a sexy costume, though not a degrading one. See: Wonder Woman, Xena.

The overwhelming majority of your audience has never even heard of Red Sonja (apart from the older movie). They're not going to miss the bikini and are not going into this with expectations of it.

Red Sonja's chainmail bikini came about because her comic was marketed to young boys who liked to look at sexy girls in skimpy outfits. She can't dress like that in the movie, but she doesn't have to wear a burqa either. They need to find a middle ground between sex appeal and plausibility, like they did with Wonder Woman.

I said she can't have the chain mail bikini. I said nothing about chain mail burquas.

[AndrewCrossett]

The overwhelming majority of your audience has never even heard of Red Sonja (apart from the older movie).

In that case, there's no reason to make a Red Sonja movie.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

I know Andrew, the distraction factor was just one writers reason for the bikini if memory serves, though I think that she'd have to wear it at some point in the movie or you'd upset a lot of people that would have probably gone to the movie just to see that, bad reason I know but...

[ed2962]

6. Under no circumstances have an actual chain mail bikini. Unless you're going for parody.

I think the bikini could work in live action if they go for a campy tone. I don't think that would be a bad thing.

[Agent Z]

In that case, there's no reason to make a Red Sonja movie.

By this logic, there would be no reason to make any movie based on a character the audience largely doesn't know about.

[Thor2014]

It's a fact that a large portion of this character is sex appeal. She has to have a sexy costume, though not a degrading one. See: Wonder Woman, Xena.

Yeah, but even Marvel dropped the bikini in the 80s. She can still be made sexy, but they have to be careful that they don't overdo it and turn off potential female viewers.

[CliffHanger2]

I remember that film with Bridget Nielson as Sonja and Arnie along for the ride as a Conan-like character who they couldn’t actually call Conan.

Maybe it is time for a update but then remember how poorly received the Conan remake was a few years back though I liked it.

I think remakes are usually poorly received because they reject the elements that made the property a success in the first place. Either they go too serious or go too far with the parody stuff. Even tho i like Mamoa but nobody tops Arnie as Conan lol.

[j9ac9k]

If there has to be a Red Sonja movie, I'd suggest emulating "Thor" more than "Wonder Woman" in terms of leaning into the cheesiness. Keep the chain mail bikini, but not for the whole movie. If Ragnarok can be inspied by the 80's "Flash Gordon" movie, then let the RS movie be inspired by "Barbarella" but with a more modern sensibility that's not sexist but fun and a bit whacky. Wonder Woman already has the "female empowerment message" thing down, so don't try to compete in that arena.

[Carabas]

I think remakes are usually poorly received because they reject the elements that made the property a success in the first place. Either they go too serious or go too far with the parody stuff. Even tho i like Mamoa but nobody tops Arnie as Conan lol.

Momoa was a perfect Conan. Arnold was just a big, dumb, slow pile of muscles. Not like Howard's Conan at all. Arnold was basically just playing a Frazetta cover.

[numberthirty]

While I don't know about "Perfect", Jason was certainly a better Conan than Arnold.

As for the whole "Bikini" aspect, I could see it being a joke. I can't see it being something someone wears for an entire film