# Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless

Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless are American writers best known for writing films together. After box office successes like Dracula Untold (2014) and The Last Witch Hunter (2015), Sazama and Sharpless wrote Gods of Egypt (2016), Morbius (2022) and Madame Web (2024), all of which became box office bombs and received negative reception from critics. The duo also wrote a reboot of Lost in Space for Netflix, which contrary to their other work, has been well-received.

## Career

In August 2008, Sazama and Sharpless were hired by Sony Pictures Entertainment 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 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 re-wrote 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. Breck 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, and Geoffrey Rush. The film, directed by Alex Proyas, was released on February 26, 2016, by Lionsgate.
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. Sazama and Sharpless contributed to the story of the 2017 Power Rangers reboot. 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 movie 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

Film
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 2014 | Dracula Untold | Gary Shore | |
| 2015 | The Last Witch Hunter | Breck Eisner | Co-wrote with Cory Goodman |
| 2016 | Gods of Egypt | Alex Proyas | |
| 2017 | Power Rangers | Dean Israelite | Story only Co-wrote with Michele Mulroney and Kieran Mulroney |
| 2022 | Morbius | Daniel Espinosa | |
| 2024 | Madame Web | S. J. Clarkson | Co-wrote with Claire Parker, Clarkson, and Kerem Sanga |
Television
* Lost in Space (2018–2021) (showrunners and executive producers)