Having stalled at Warner Bros over the last couple of years, the rights to the '80s anime franchise Robotech have now been snapped up by Sony. Producers Mark Canton and Gianni Nunnari (300, Immortals) have big things planned, and they're not just talking about giant mecha.
In development at Warners since 2007 when Tobey Maguire and Akiva Goldsman were involved at that point), Robotech was born out of the 1980s Japanese anime, bought by Harmony Gold USA and Japan’s Tatsunoko Productions, which re-edited and redubbed three different series to make into a daily syndicated ‘toon for audiences in the US and elsewhere.
In the series, mankind builds machines using technology developed from a crashed alien spaceship to fend off three different alien invasions, including one race of huge warriors none too happy about us pinching their tech and power source.
"When the rights to Robotech became available we jumped," says Nunnari. "Mark and I knew it had what big movies in today’s world must have if they want to grab everyone: insane visuals and powerful themes. The characters in Robotech wrestle with both the destructive and redemptive powers of technology; nothing is more relevant today than that.”
"Robotech is unique in that it has always been a marriage of spectacle with human characters that seem drawn from life,” said Columbia Pictures' Michael De Luca. “That’s why we are so excited to be working with Mark and Gianni as we move forward on this project. With a history that offers an epic love triangle, a renegade hero, and a world on the brink of extinction, Robotech offers a wide scope and a rich and impressive universe where the story possibilities are endless.”
Michael Gordon (300, GI Joe) will write the screenplay, which Sony/Columbia and all involved are hoping will be the first of several.