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[XiaNaphryz]

www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/warner-bros-chooses-robotech-director-415144

Nic Mathieu has been tapped to direct Robotech, Warner Bros.’ big-budget adaptation of the venerable anime featuring giant mechanical warriors.

The project has major franchise potential -- on the scale of Transformers -- and has been in development at the studio since 2007. Akiva Goldsman and Tobey Maguire are producing along with Matthew Plouffe, Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell.

Many writers have worked on the screenplay, but this is the first time a director has been in negotiations to board the project.

The producers conducted an exhaustive search in the fall to find a director who could bring a cutting-edge and modern approach to Robotech, which was a 1980s cartoon series from Harmony Gold USA and Japan's Tatsunoko Productions. It was re-edited and re-dialogued to combine three Japanese anime series to give the producers enough episodes to air as a daily syndicated series.

A sprawling sci-fi epic, Robotech takes place at a time when Earth has developed giant robots from the technology on an alien spacecraft that crashed on a South Pacific island. Mankind is forced to use the technology to fend off three successive waves of alien invasions. The first invasion concerns a battle with a race of giant warriors who seek to retrieve their flagship's energy source known as "protoculture," and the planet's survival ends up in the hands of two young pilots.

The project is a coup for Mathieu, a commercials director whose spots are known for their inventive CG effects but who has yet to make his feature debut.

But Warners already has shown it has plenty of faith in the burgeoning filmmaker: He is attached to direct The Wind, a David Keopp-written sci-fi project that the studio picked up in spring 2012 after being dazzled by his impressive presentation.

Mathieu also is attached to direct The Story of Your Life, an alien drama being produced by Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps.

He is repped by WME, Anonymous Content and Loeb & Loeb.

 

[Parallax]

robotech is still happening?

 

[DieH@rd]

They will make it one day...

 

[massoluk]

There goes my hope that some benevolent force will unite Macross franchise from the East and the West, leading the charge against the evil Robotech, heralding the golden age of Mecha paradise.

 

[Amagon]

Well, isn't that something.

 

[Enduin]

I secretly, or not so much, want this really badly. I love Macross a ton, but Robotech is such a guilty pleasure. If they were able to make a live action that captured that awesome 80s futuristic vibe and style of the franchise I would be so down for this.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

I secretly, or not so much, want this really badly. I love Macross a ton, but Robotech is such a guilty pleasure. If they were able to make a live action that captured that awesome 80s futuristic vibe and style of the franchise I would be so down for this.

I'm sure you have nothing to worry about, given Warner Bros recent history with stuff from the 1980s!

 

[GamePnoy74]

Call me a hopeless optimistic fanboy...but I figure a studio as huge as WB has the clout to negotiate a resolve between Big West/Studio Nue/Tatsunoko/Harmony Gold and leverage the Robotech and Macross brands to help the film's production and worldwide marketing. And with that out of the way someone like Shouji Kawamori (the man behind Macross) can jump on board into designing real-life Valkyries/Veritechs fit for a big-budget live-action film while being close to the source material.

Spoiler

I highly doubt this will ever happen...but it's nice to dream lol

But...is it worth the trouble of doing all this if the movie itself is crap...? =P

 

[massoluk]

Call me a hopeless optimistic fanboy...but I figure a studio as huge as WB has the clout to negotiate a resolve between Big West/Studio Nue/Tatsunoko/Harmony Gold and leverage the Robotech and Macross brands to help the film's production and worldwide marketing. And with that out of the way someone like Shouji Kawamori (the man behind Macross) can jump on board into designing real-life Valkyries/Veritechs fit for a big-budget live-action film while being close to the source material.

Spoiler

I highly doubt this will ever happen...but it's nice to dream lol

But...is it worth the trouble of doing all this if the movie itself is crap...? =P

We share the same dream man. I thought may be some big studio will say "fuck this shit" and buy Big West/Harmony Gold/Tatsunoko, make a Macross Holding Company, prop Kawamori up as CEO.

 

[donkey show]

Holy shit is this still a thing?

 

[Kai Dracon]

I suppose there's no good reason to assume this won't be a ho-hum adaption, but ah well.

I've always been fond of Robotech, in large part due to the fairly sprawling universe built around it which is rather original and moves far past re-purposing Macross.

Robotech's only real flaw IMO is its very unfortunate name. It's a dumb name, sadly forced onto the project by marketing tie-ins with model kits released in the west.

It's going to make pushing a big budget movie adaptation difficult, even worse than something named "Transformers".

 

[FlyingTeacup]

it must have this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x31eMNCa7Qg

and this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpRXBNQgO7E

 

[Phat Michael]

hyuna as minmei
seth rogen as ben
katy perry with green hair as miriya

cant pick roy, rick, lisa or max.

 

[GuitarAtomik]

It's nice to hear some progress on this project but this has always been one of those "I'll believe it when I see it" movies for me.