Mecha anime adaptations are on the rise lately. Now, Sony is once again throwing its hat in the ring with its long-gestating Robotech movie. Collider brings word that Rhys Thomas is the latest director who will try to bring the beloved Japanese anime series to the big screen.
The original Robotech series premiered in the U.S. in 1985 and ran for 85 episodes. The story presented a vision of the future where humanity is engaged in a war with hostile aliens. In order to defend themselves, humans salvage the remains of an alien starship to build their own army of giant robots.
Technically, the show was adapted from three separate anime series that previously aired in Japan: Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA. None of these series met the 65-episode minimum required by American syndication. That’s why U.S. producer Harmony Gold combined all three titles and re-edited them into a single story. The resulting series later spawned a line of comics, video games, and collectible trading cards.
Thomas most recently directed three episodes of Marvel’s Hawkeye series on Disney+. Before that, he helmed episodes of Documentary Now! and Saturday Night Live. So Robotech is a pretty big departure from his usual work. But his work on Hawkeye demonstrated that he is capable of handling big action scenes.
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A Robotech movie has been languishing in development hell for years. In 2007, Tobey Maguire signed on to produce and star in a film adaptation for Warner Bros. with Lawrence Kasdan writing the screenplay. However, this version of the project never materialized. Over the next decade-and-a-half, several other writers took their own pass at the script, including Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.
The film changed hands to Sony in 2015, and the studio hired James Wan to direct later that year. Andy Muschietti eventually filled the director’s chair after Wan dropped out to concentrate on Aquaman. But Muschietti has since moved on to his own DC movie, The Flash.
Uncharted scribes Art Marcum and Matt Holloway penned the latest draft of the Robotech script, which also features rewrite work from Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka. Sony hasn’t set a release date for the film.
Do you think Thomas is a good choice to direct Robotech? Let us know in the comment section below!
Recommended Reading: Robotech Archives: The Macross Saga Vol. 1
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