The Wachowski brothers and Joel Silver have less time to finish Speed Racer than originally thought, but it's only a matter of two weeks. Opening day for the cartoon's big budget, big screen outing has been brought forward to May 9th 2008, which in terms of opening weekends, puts it smack bang in between Iron Man (May 2nd) and Disney's next Narnia movie Prince Caspian (May 16th).
For those unfamiliar with the source material, Speed Racer is based on an anime cartoon series originally produced in the '60s, which was one of the first successful crossover Japanimated series to run and run in the West (including a still-high rating run on America's Cartoon Network in the '90s). It focuses on, in that uniquely anime fashion, a young racing driver out for glory on the track with the support of his family – chiefly his dear ol' Dad, who designs his suped up motor.
Not much is known yet about how the Wachowskis are going to treat the material, which was also famous for its fast dialogue, heady action and unusually strong violence, but we're guessing that not much will change in these departments. No casting has been announced yet, as the sibling duo are still busy re-writing a screenplay originally created by Patrick Read Johnson and John Lau.