Craig Brewer writing and directing a Tarzan trilogy

Craig Brewer has been hired to write and direct a new Tarzan movie for Warner Bros.

The film is envisaged as the first of a trilogy (what isn't these days?), with Brewer hoping to direct it after he has finished work on his Footloose remake, according to a report by Deadline.

Warner Bros has been keen on featuring Edgar Rice Burroughs' character in a new film for some time now, having previously hired Adam Cozad to work on an adaptation.

Guillermo del Toro was also once attached to a Tarzan reboot, but it seems to have fallen off his overloaded plate.

Hustle & Flow director Brewer seems like an odd choice to relaunch the vine-swinger, as he doesn't have any action-adventure credentials, but Warner Bros seems confident in his abilities.

Tarzan has appeared in more than 80 movies since 1918. Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller is probably the actor most fondly associated with the role, though Disney produced an impressive animated take on the hero in 1999.

The less said about 1998's Tarzan And The Lost City , starring Casper Van Dien, the better…

Matt Maytum
Editor, Total Film

I'm the Editor at Total Film magazine, overseeing the running of the mag, and generally obsessing over all things Nolan, Kubrick and Pixar. Over the past decade I've worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+, and you can often hear me nattering on the Inside Total Film podcast. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.