Breck Eisner will direct the latest big screen incarnation of Flash Gordon, following Sony Pictures' victory in a bidding war for the rights to the iconic hero.

Eisner was previously attached to a Flash Gordon movie that The Mummy's Stephen Sommers was hoping to produce for Universal a few years ago. He has now teamed with Original Films' Neal Moritz to produce the movie for Sony.

Flash Gordon was created by Alex Raymond in 1934 for King Features Syndicate, following the adventures of an all-American athlete who battles the plans of the evil Ming on the Emperor's homeworld Mongo and beyond, assisted by his girlfriend Dale Arden and scientist Dr Hans Zarkov.

The strip spawned a radio serial in 1935, three chapterplays featuring Buster Crabbe as Flash from 1936-1940, six different television series, most recently starring Eric Johnson on the Sci Fi Channel, and a big screen adventure in 1980 with Sam J. Jones as the adventurer.