Thanks to the box-office success of DreamWorks/Paramount’s Transformers, we have not only Voltron to look forward to, but also Robotech. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Spider-Man actor Tobey Maguire has signed on to produce and possibly star in Warner Bros.’ big-screen adaptation of the Harmony Gold/Tatsunoko ’80s anime series about (what else?) giant transforming robots and the humans who pilot them.
The Robotech animated series is an intergalactic mecha drama that spans generations over the course of three acts: The Macross Saga, Robotech Masters and New Generation. The epic begins in the year 1999, when a massive alien battlecruiser crash-lands on Earth in the midst of a bloody global war. With the possibility of a more perilous threat looming, the human race puts aside its differences and collectively undertakes the arduous task of rebuilding the spacecraft and using its technology to build massive robots for the purpose of defending the Earth should its extraterrestrial masters come to reclaim it. When that day comes, the rebuilt ship’s inexperienced crew, led by hotshot pilot Rick Hunter and war hero Roy Fokker, launches the battlecruiser into war.
More than 20 years after Robotech want off the air, Harmony Gold picked up the story with a new animated feature film titled Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles. Navarre Corp.’s FUNimation Ent. acquired home video, broadcast and theatrical rights, giving it a very limited theatrical run in the U.S. earlier this year. The award-winning pic is now available on DVD.
It’s not clear if Maguire is eying the role of Hunter or Fokker. He is producing the film through his Maguire Ent., along with Drew Crevello through his Supercool Hollywood BigTime Prods. There is currently no director attached to adapt the screenplay by Craig Zahler (The Brigands of Rattleborge). Harmony Gold’s Frank Agrama will serve as exec producer and Matthew Reilly will oversee production for Warner Bros.
After director Michael Bay’s Transformers made more than $685 million worldwide, Fox’s New Regency picked up rights to fellow 1980s Mecha toon Voltron: Defender of the Universe and is planning to make a live-action/CG feature with the Mark Gordon Co.
