Video game art director Jerry O’Flaherty will cut his feature film directing teeth on Warner Bros. Pictures’ CG-animated big-screen adaptation of the ’80 cartoon series Thundercats, according to Daily Variety. O’Flaherty’s credits in interactive entertainment include Epic Games’ Gears of War and Unreal Tournament 3, and Westwood Studios’ Command and Conquer series.
Based on characters created by Tobin “Ted” Wolf, the 1983 television series followed the adventures of the surviving inhabitants of the destroyed planet Thundera, who were forced to flee their home in escape vessels. The crew crash-lands on Third Earth, where they make friends with various groups and build a fortress to defend against the centuries-old evil of Mumm-Ra and the mutants that wiped out the rest of their kind. The animation for the show was provided by Pacific Animation Corp., a collective of Japanese studios which included Topcraft and would later form Studio Ghibli.
The feature adaptation’s screenplay, penned by Fox Broadcasting print advertising writer Paul Sopocy, reportedly focuses on the character Lion-O as he emerges as the leader of the Thundercats. Sopocy’s previous film writing credits include the 2005 Sundance short Staring at the Sun.
Warner Bros. picked up rights to the Thundercats property in 1989 when it acquired Telepictures Corp., but apparently hasn’t seen big-screen potential until Transformers and other ’80s cartoon series including Voltron and He-Man went into development. Paula Weinstein (Blood Diamond) will produce through her Warner-based Spring Creek Prods., along with Dick Robertson and Lew Korman. Dan Lin is overseeing production for Warner Bros.
