Live Action Astro Boy And Robotech Adaptations Blast Off, Details Here
Everything old is new again.
This article is more than 2 years old
Hollywood spends a lot of time considering what potential audiences are nostalgic for, which is why damn near every movie that gets released is a remake, a reboot, a sequel, or an adaptation of something that came before. If they liked it once, they’ll like it again, right? We’ve got Transformers, G.I. Joe, and maybe even a GoBots in the future, but two more projects that have the potential to be pretty cool, and that are now in the works, are live action Astro Boy and Robotech adaptations.
Heat Vision reports that Astro Boy, which had a 2009 animated movie that face-planted so hard almost no one remembers it happened, is in the works, being guided by Australian special effects house Animal Logic. They’re best known for working on Happy Feet and Avengers: Age of Ultron, though they’re also working on a Betty Boop movie.
That’s really about all there is to tell at this point. While there are a few producers on board, like Animal Logic’s Zareh Nalbandian, Jason Lust, Mike Callaghan, and Reuben Liber, there are no other pieces in place yet. They’re currently looking for a writer to tackle the script, and right now there isn’t even a hint of who they’re interested in having direct. So in reality, while this is brewing, it sounds like it’s a ways off in the distance.
Created in the 1950s by Osamu Tezuka, Astro Boy started life as a comic strip, which was followed by anime show, manga, and more. In a kind of Pinocchio scenario, a scientist creates the title character as a replacement for his dead son. There are adventures, and eventually Astro uses his super powers to fight all kinds of evil.
Nalbandian says, “We’ve seen him as a manga, an anime and an animated movie but we’ve never seen him as a live-action movie or him as a superhero. We actually see him in the same league as an Iron Man.”
There has been talk of a live action Robotech movie for damn near as long as I can remember. At various points, people like Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lawrence Kasdan, and Akiva Goldsman, just to name a few, have all been linked to the project at one time or another. But after many false starts and screeching halts, it’s finally rolling once again.
According to Deadline, Hollywood Gang, a Warner Bros. offshoot, are the ones trying to bring this beloved bit of animation to life. A couple of producers, including Gianni Nunnari and Mark Canton are driving this train, and they even have a writer, as they tapped Michael Gordon (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, 300) to handle the script. He can certainly handle big. There’s no official word on a director yet, but their sources say that they do have eyes on Mama’s Andres Muschietti to take the helm.
Robotech began life in the 1980s as an animated series, but the franchise quickly grew and expanded, spawning countless comics, novels, movies, RPGs, and, of course, some of the most badass toys ever created by humanity. After discovering an alien spaceship that crashed in the South Pacific, people create giant transforming mech suits to fight off a series of invasions from space.
There’s no specific timeline available for either of these projects, but it’ll be interesting to watch them develop, and see if either one actually makes it to the finish line this time. Are you excited for either a live action Astro Boy or Robotech movie?
