Another anime-based Hollywood movie might just arrive in the next few years. The Hollywood Reporter had recently revealed that several studios are bidding war over a possible live-action movie of the possible 1980s animated series, Voltron: Defender of the Universe.
Around six or seven studios are already scouting the live-action adaptation of Voltron. Big names like Warner Bros., Universal, and even Amazon are among those studios.
The package was offered to studios around two weeks ago with pitches and a teaser reel. The film is said to be co-written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, writer and director of Red Notice. Thurber created the story for live-action Voltron and will co-write the script with Ellen Shanman.
Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman are said to be on board to produce the film with Bob Koplar, who heads World Events Productions, the owner of the Voltron property. Lieberman and Hoberman have produced the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast.
Voltron was a popular U.S animated series made in 1984. The show follows a group of people who pilot giant Transformer-like mechas known as Robot Lions. The show was a huge success, which resulted in a 2016 Netflix reboot called Voltron: Legendary Defender. Speaking of which, it’s interesting to note that the popular streaming service is not one of the companies trying to bid for live-action Voltron.
The original 1984 Voltron series was a syndicated show, made from heavily editing and dubbing two unrelated animes called Beast King GoLion and Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV. Voltron’s creator Peter Keefe bought the rights to these two animes and somehow combined parts of those series to make a completely different story and plot.
There have been several attempts to put out a live-action Voltron movie. Mark Gordon and Pharrell Williams pitched one back in the mid-2000s, which was eventually scrapped. In the 2010s, Relativity Media attempted to develop a feature film. Even Dreamworks tried pitching a Voltron animated feature.
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