Well this seems like great news for us fans who are still holding a candle for the big screen version of Robotech, the groundbreaking ’80s cartoon that combined three different Japanese anime shows into one massive 85-episode space opera and boasted a storyline that spanned three generations. It seems that the long in development hell film version is reportedly once again back on track.
According to Deadline, Warner Bros. have tapped their in-house team Hollywood Gang to see the project through headed by producers Gianni Nunnari and Mark Canton. 300 and G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra screenwriter Michael Gordon will pen the script with an eye on Andy Muschietti (Mama) to direct.
The last time talk that the Robotech movie was moving forward was in 2013 and commercial director Nic Mathieu was set to helm. Going back further to 2008, none other than Lawrence Kasdan (The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark) was announced as the writer tasked to crack the epic intergalactic screenplay with Akiva Goldsman, Chuck Roven, Tobey Maguire and Drew Crevello on board as producers.
Robotech‘s expansive storyline (at least the first generation of it based on the iconic Japanese anime series Macross) follows Earth’s battle against giant humanoid aliens who want to reclaim a lost starship that crash landed on a South Pacific island. Mankind utilizes an advanced vital energy source found on the ship, called Protoculture, to allow their military vehicles to transform into giant robots capable of battling the powerful Zentradei forces.
I’ve been a fan of the show since it first aired in 1986. The serialized storyline was as heavy on character development as it was on action and included the deaths of several main cast members. It was a standout show for sure for its time to an 11-year old kid like me.
Only all these years later it seemed that CGI technology was finally capable to feasibly do the story justice when Michael Bay’s Transformers hit the big screen in 2007. There have been many false starts with this movie version from Warner Bros., and there unfortunately seems to be a doomed race to multiplexes along side Voltron, the other popular ’80s animated Japanese import. While Transformers whetted moviegoers’ appetites for this type of high octane big screen robot spectacle, Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim swooped in and successfully capitalized on obvious heavy influences from both Robotech and Voltron.
Kasdan has his plate full with the next stage of Star Wars, having recently penned the revised screenplay to Star Wars: The Force Awakens with J.J. Abrams and will likely be attached to the successive films. Time will tell if any of Kasdan’s take on Robotech will be retained or if the screenplay is back to a square one re-write.
Fingers crossed Robotech is now on steady course to finally making it to the big screen and retain the layered storyline that separates it from so many other properties featuring giant robots. There is limitless franchise potential from Robotech, but it all depends on how well this potential first film is handled by WB and received by audiences all over the world.
SOURCE: Deadline
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