In August 2008, Sazama and Sharpless were hired by
Sony Pictures to write the script for a film adaptation of
Flash Gordon, with
Breck Eisner attached as director. In January 2011,
20th Century Fox hired Sazama and Sharpless to adapt
Atari's 1980s arcade game
Missile Command. In August 2011,
Universal Pictures hired Sazama and Sharpless to write the script for a feature film based on the
Hasbro board game
Cluedo. In September 2011,
Chernin Entertainment bought an untitled pitch by Sazama and Sharpless, which was described as a futuristic
Jungle Book. Sazama and Sharpless wrote the script for the 2014 horror fantasy film
Dracula Untold, starring
Luke Evans,
Sarah Gadon, and
Dominic Cooper. The film was directed by
Gary Shore and released in the United States by Universal Pictures on October 10, 2014. Sazama and Sharpless also rewrote Cory Goodman's original draft of the 2015 fantasy thriller film
The Last Witch Hunter, starring
Vin Diesel,
Elijah Wood,
Rose Leslie,
Julie Engelbrecht, and
Michael Caine. Eisner directed the film, which was released on October 23, 2015, by
Summit Entertainment. In addition, Sazama and Sharpless wrote the screenplay for the fantasy action film
Gods of Egypt, starring
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau,
Brenton Thwaites,
Gerard Butler,
Chadwick Boseman, and
Geoffrey Rush. The film, directed by
Alex Proyas, was released on February 26, 2016, by
Lionsgate. Sazama and Sharpless also contributed to the story of the 2017
Power Rangers reboot. In June 2015,
Walt Disney Pictures hired Sazama and Sharpless to write a live-action adaptation of the
Night on Bald Mountain sequence from the 1940s animated film
Fantasia, which they would also executive produce. Though as of 2025, no further updates have been made. In November 2015,
Netflix announced a remake of
the 1965 TV series Lost in Space, hiring Sazama and Sharpless to write. In 2017, it was announced that Sony Pictures hired the duo to pen the script for the film adaptation of
Marvel Comics character,
Morbius, the Living Vampire.
The film is part of their shared universe titled
Sony's Spider-Man Universe. They also wrote a
film adaptation of
Madame Web, which was released on February 14, 2024.
Reception Following the release of
Madame Web, Sazama and Sharpless suddenly gained infamous attention due to their history of being "franchise killers". Philip Ellis of ''
Men's Health'' referred to the duo's work as "middling genre fare that seeks not to expand or buck conventions, but rather to deliver trope after trope, revelling in cliché where other writers might shy away. In other words, the kind of movie you'll get a kick out of when you're slightly drunk and/or sleepy at 20,000 feet." Sazama and Sharpless have been publicly mocked online with users questioning their ability to write and Hollywood's insistence on rehiring them for large budget projects. While Alex Zalben of
Comic Book Club agreed that the duo's work is subpar, he noted that their work on
Lost in Space has been better received stating, "I don't know these guys. I don't have a dog in this race. But I'd venture a Netflix show they were actually in charge of is probably a better representation of their talent than multiple work-for-hire movies where they wrote an often intermediary version of a screenplay." == Filmography ==