Robotech Movie project back on again

Ian Wolf

Ian Wolf

Harem King
AUKN Staff
Reports have come in saying that the proposed movie version of controversial mecha anime <em>Robotech</em> is back on the cards.



Back in 2013 it was said that Nic Mathieu (now currently directing the forthcoming supernatural action film <em>Spectral</em>) was going to direct the film, but nothing seemed to come from it.

Now, according to the website <em>Deadline Hollywood</em> producers Hollywood Gang, who are owned by Warner Bros., are considered to make a film. They report that it will be produced by Gianni Nunnari and Mark Canton, with a script written by Michael Gordon, who has previously wrote the screenplays for <em>300 </em>and <em>G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra</em>. A director has not been named, but rumours suggest that the producers are considering Andres "Andy" Muschietti (<em>Mama</em>).&nbsp;

<em>Robotech </em>is one of the most divisive anime ever made. Fans of the series praise it for being one of the first anime ever televised in the west and praise its complex storyline. Others hate it for combining three different anime series together, which are now incredibly difficult to see in the west in their original form, as well as controversy concerning the production company Harmony Gold.

Source: <em>Deadline Hollywood</em> and <em>Den of Geek</em>
 
I really enjoyed what I've seen of Robotech (the Macross arc) although it does take a bit of time getting into - but I can't seen this happening. The amount of money needed to pull it off convincingly would be astronomical, and I'm not convinced the title has as much cache for mainstream audiences as something like GITS does in terms of transferring to live action (which I presume this would be?)

Why would Hollywood make this when they can just make another Pacific Rim?
 
I'm sure harmony Gold will have it's grubby sticky fingers in this anyway. Robotech was just a slice & diced Macross anyway, so who cares? On again, off again on, off, on....just stop already. It's never going to happen HG and I'm not fooled by calling yourselves "Hollywood Gang" either so just STFU and PO!
 
Kinda surprised by the reaction to this.

Although, it stands to reason that if they can't put Cowboy Bebop on the big screen, they certainly won't be able to do this.
 
This is probably a stupid question, but outside of anime fandom, does 'Robotech' actually still have much cache as a brand name - ie. would the average person on the street even recognise it?
 
It's probably quite close to the brand recognition of Speed Racer. And the movie will probably have about as much impact as that one did, depending on how much they put into the special effects >_>

Zero interest in supporting anything those thieves at Harmony Gold do in any walk of life.

R
 
I'd suspect it's a case of some wealthy individual in Hollywood having overly rose-tinted memories of the show, and a wodge of money to throw at it. It may even tick the Hollywood box for 'franchise potential'.

Robotech was a show I remember my school pals in the '80s being excited about. That was purely down to the fact that it wasn't on UK terrestrial TV, looked a bit like the 'cool cartoons' that stood out as different from everthing else on TV, and seemed to only exist in the upstairs video department in my local John Menzies. It was a cse of 'forbidden fruit' syndrome. We didn't have it, it looked cool, so we were perhaps more interested than we should have been.

That interest pretty much died when one of us got a VHS for a present, a load of us piled around to that kid's haouse to watch it... and found it to be turgid, boring and corny.

It says a lot, I think, that I mentioned this news to an old friend today and his reaction was to laugh out loud. And ask 'why?'
 
Was thinking about this again the other day while I was finishing off watching the last part of Robotech (the Genesis Climber stuff) and it got me thinking, do Sony really have significant hopes for this? Well, obviously they do in terms of financing the project, but as in - do they envision this as the next Transformers or Marvel mega-franchise or will it just be a Pacific Rim style one-and-done?

I just can't imagine the public sentiment is there for that kind of reboot. Transformers was a special case - and had been kept alive in much better state through the 90s. Whereas from what I've read, Robotech was already showing signs of flagging within the 80s itself - like with the film that got cancelled after a handful of screenings because only adults turned up.

I'm sure this has been discussed to death in various parts of the internet, but it just frustrates me that Harmony Gold seem to be holding on to this cold corpse that is Robotech with an iron grip, in the misguided belief it's somehow this goldmine waiting to be given new life.

I'm willing to be proven wrong, but it just frustrates me that this is potentially still halting Macross from being brought back to the UK.

*rant over - goes and chuckles at the below some more*

 
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I haven't seen Robotech or Furious 7 but going from The Conjuring, Saw and Insidious, James Wan is a great director. It's always exciting to hear he's working on a new film.
 
Mixed feelings on this.

Nothing against the actual series, and love James Wan for his contribution to the F&F franchise, but I'm morally opposed to anything that helps line HG's pockets.
 
I'd love to know how Sony managed to ease out all the Macross issues (if the movie is going to focus on that arc and specifically reference Macross elements)
 
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