Live Action Robotech Movie Franchise Announced

[NoShoes]

Live Action Robotech Movie Franchise Announced

Because more is always better, right?

Robotech, the classic sci-fi anime epic, is not only coming to the big screen near you but will apparently be bringing along a few friends. Sony has announced that instead of one solitary movie, there are plans to implement an entire franchise of Robotech films.

Sony Pictures' Michael De Luca, one member of the team responsible for the project, stated that "'Robotech is unique in that it has always been a marriage of spectacle with human characters that seem drawn from life."

Producers Gianni Nunnari and Mark Canton of 300 and Immortals fame are developing the film, with writer Michael Gordon (also from 300) creating the screenplay. According to Nunnari, "[Canton] and I knew [Robotech] 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."

Although the portrayal of technology as a push-and-pull between good and evil isn't new to big budget films, I'll be interested to see this team's take on how that translates to Robotech on the big screen.

How do you feel with Nunnari, Canton, and Gordon in the cockpit?


Source: Coming Soon [http://io9.com/live-action-robotech-will-be-a-full-franchise-at-sony-1693768348]

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[Spaceman Spiff]

I'm excited to see a Robotech movie. I'm less excited to see Sony involved with it. Not sure how I feel about it being a franchise, definitely not surprised though.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Alright. I'll bite. Bring on the hype. Sort of.

I loved Robotech as a kid.

 

[Zontar]

God dame it, that list of people working on this is even more disappointing then it is short. I can deal with it being an adaptation of Robotech instead of the objectively better Macross, but for the love of god could they not find people who had work experience that produced something of merit?

Also, the destructive and redemptive powers of technology? Not sure how that got mentioned given how neither Robotech nor Macross deal with that, so it isn't a confusion of which show is the one being adapted.

I'm placing this between the Stargate reboot and Star Trek reboot in terms of my low expectations.

 

[wetfart]

Wasn't Robotech just three different animes tossed into a blender? Is Sony just going to keep the mecha or are they going to bring in all the other stuff from the anime like SDF Macross, Zentraedi, Protoculture, and, of course, The Minmay Defense?

 

[rcs619]

Wasn't Robotech just three different animes tossed into a blender? Is Sony just going to keep the mecha or are they going to bring in all the other stuff from the anime like SDF Macross, Zentraedi, Protoculture, and, of course, The Minmay Defense?

I honestly have no idea. But, I bet they still keep the pods that let the series just cheat around the fact that the zentraedi are giants. "Oh hey, these are our aliens and this is one of their defining physical characteristics. Let's just use this bit of tech to completely ignore it 90% of the time"

I get that it was largely due to the animation budget, but still. If you're just going to ignore a trait you give one of your species most of the time, why even give them the trait in the first place?

 

[Akisa]

Why can't we have Macross and not Robotech?

 

[gigastar]

Call me crazy, but i dont recall that Robotech, intended as a kids show, ever dealt with things like "the destructive and redemptive powers of technology" outside of lots and lots of explosions.

I have the feeling the IP is simply being used to shoot off some social commentary.

Wonder why Harmony Gold thought Sony of all studios would be at all suited for this as well.

 

[Trishbot]

I've grown bitter at Robotech (aka Harmony Gold) for keeping Macross out of our hands. I know Robotech was a fusion of three different shows, with some made-up connections, but Macross is just objectively superior...

 

[Zontar]

Wonder why Harmony Gold thought Sony of all studios would be at all suited for this as well.

Probably because Sony is literally the only one willing to do it.

Why can't we have Macross and not Robotech?

Because in defiance of the laws of economics Harmony Gold is still open, and no one who would want to challenge the California court ruling has the economic interest to do so because of how long they would drag out the case before the challenger inevitably wins. Which is surprising given how one would think Sony would have done so before this given how it would be an open and shut case of the original ruling being wrong (coupled with the fact that the court did not have the legal authority for its ruling).

 

[Aetrion]

I kind of always thought that even though Battletech got started on stolen Robotech mech designs it overall tells a much more interesting story.

 

[FalloutJack]

I'm likin' it. There's not much chance of it messing up. Robotech has a pretty simple format. Gigantic crashed alien ship, transforming mecha, host of pilots, and fucking pineapple salad!

 

[Foehunter82]

Didn't Tobey McGuire approach Sony about making a live-action Robotech film after the release of the first Transformers film a few years ago? I seem to recall that happening.

All I remember from Robotech was the transforming mecha, the giant spaceship, and two or three alien species trying to wipe out the human race.

I kind of always thought that even though Battletech got started on stolen Robotech mech designs it overall tells a much more interesting story.

I actually agree with that. The problem is that Battletech has such an massive plot with the various Houses (and, eventually, Clans) fighting with each other that they would probably have to turn it into an HBO TV series for it to make any sense.

 

[WindKnight]

Why can't we have Macross and not Robotech?

Someone in Japan sold Harmony Gold rights they weren't strictly speaking allowed to, and now Harmony Gold can basically veto anything Macross related being released in the west. Kind of why everything Macross related after Plus has not had a western release.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Wasn't Robotech just three different animes tossed into a blender?

Short answer; Yes.

OT; I like the idea of this movie series. I don't like that it will probably be centered around 2 guys and one girl in crappy tacked on love triangle.

 

[rcs619]

Wasn't Robotech just three different animes tossed into a blender?

Short answer; Yes.

OT; I like the idea of this movie series. I don't like that it will probably be centered around 2 guys and one girl in crappy tacked on love triangle.

Oh man, it's totally going to be Top Gun with giant robot-piloting aliens. It's going to be so very, very Top Gun, lol.

I bet they don't even do the interesting thing and make one side of the triangle one of the aforementioned giant aliens. I believe there's a couple instances of that happening in Macross anyway (I don't pretend to be a huge fan of Robotech or Macross, but I do tend to like the mecha designs and I played the PS2 game waaaaay back when). Probably just a boring, run of the mill, human on human on human triangle set during a war.

 

[Akisa]

Why can't we have Macross and not Robotech?

Someone in Japan sold Harmony Gold rights they weren't strictly speaking allowed to, and now Harmony Gold can basically veto anything Macross related being released in the west. Kind of why everything Macross related after Plus has not had a western release.

I just want to Harmony Gold to play nice and release a Macross than focus on Robotech.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

300 and Immortals, Sony Pictures, ROBOTECH (meaning Harmony Gold). There is not enough hatred in this universe to appropriately respond, so i'll just say MEH.

Harmony Gold is a terrible company, 300 and Immortals were entertaining but shallow movies entirely reliant on visuals, and Sony has a long history of plowing into the ground face first when it comes to franchise films. This is a recipe for disaster on all levels.

 

[Saulkar]

I kind of always thought that even though Battletech got started on stolen Robotech mech designs it overall tells a much more interesting story.

I actually agree with that. The problem is that Battletech has such an massive plot with the various Houses (and, eventually, Clans) fighting with each other that they would probably have to turn it into an HBO TV series for it to make any sense.

I agree with all of that. In fact decent looking CGI has gotten so much cheaper since the last live action Mechwarrior short back in 2000 that I cannot see how it cannot be recreated faithfully.

[youtube.com=vZWxgLQZano]

Hire some better actors, a plot writer with a Battletech background and a Script written by an industry proffesional and it will surely win people over.

 

[rcs619]

I kind of always thought that even though Battletech got started on stolen Robotech mech designs it overall tells a much more interesting story.

I actually agree with that. The problem is that Battletech has such an massive plot with the various Houses (and, eventually, Clans) fighting with each other that they would probably have to turn it into an HBO TV series for it to make any sense.

I agree with all of that. In fact decent looking CGI has gotten so much cheaper since the last live action Mechwarrior short back in 2000 that I cannot see how it cannot be recreated faithfully.

[youtube.com=vZWxgLQZano]

Hire some better actors, a plot writer with a Battletech background and a Script written by an industry proffesional and it will surely win people over.

I would actually love for a huge, sprawling space opera to get an HBO series sort of treatment. The problem with so many recent sci-fi movies (Jupiter Ascending comes to mind, but there's been quite a few of them with similar issues) is that they have these big settings, with all this stuff going on, some potentially interesting ideas, and then they go and try to cram them into a two hour movie, and that just doesn't work with big, sprawling space operas. Not in a way that does them any real justice.

It would be really cool for a big, sprawling sci-fi story to have room to stretch its legs and properly develop its own setting. I feel like that sort of route would serve, say, the Honor Harrington series better than just making a theatrical release out of it. I an cautiously optimistic that the movie will be good, but with all the poltiics and drama and the huge cast of characters, it would also be nice for it to have more screentime to work with.