5 Reasons Why a ‘Thundercats’ Movie is a Must
Posted by Paige MacGregor (paige@filmschoolrejects.com) on August 18, 2007
In early June of this year, Variety reported that Warner Bros. studios is currently working on a live-action CGI movie based on the popular 80’s cartoon television series Thundercats in conjunction with producer Paula Weinstein (who most recently produced The Astronaut Farmer and Blood Diamond), action animators Dick Robertson and Lew Korman, and writer Paul Sopocy. Thundercats fans know, however, that this is not the first time a major motion picture studio has dangled the promise of a Thundercats movie in front of adoring fans—originally the live-action version of this popular cartoon was set for release in 1998, nearly a decade ago, a date that was repeatedly put off before the project was scrapped altogether.
But in this new age of films born of the cartoons and comic books of old, what would be more perfect than a CGI-rich action film about a group of humanoid cats from the planet Thundera (come on… just picture a bewhiskered Kate Beckinsale in yet another skintight bodysuit and wielding a battlestaff… exactly)? So, here are the top five reasons (there would be ten, but then this article would just be way, way too long) why following-through, finally, with the production and release of a Thundercats movie is a MUST:
1. There is no way, under any circumstances, that the Thundercats movie could possibly be worse than X2 or X-Men: The Last Stand.
It would take a considerable deal of effort to surpass the combination of horrid acting, poor casting, lack of chemistry and deviation from the comic book stories that attempted to masquerade as the final two chapters in the X-Men saga that began with director Bryan Singer’s groundbreaking X-Men (2000)… And with the potential earning power of a Thundercats movie on the line, I just don’t think Warner Bros. has it in them to screw this movie up to that degree (and I know I’m going to get flack for saying this, but at least they didn’t put it in the hands of Michael Bay).
2. We have the CGI technology to pull this off. It’s really as simple as that.
Realistically turning Kate Beckinsale into Cheetarah, or even making Jake Gyllenhaal into the orange and white, emotionally conflicted leader of the Thundercats, Lion-O, is far from difficult. Just look at movies like 300 and Transformers if you want to see what Hollywood’s CGI capabilities look like now, and then tell me that we can’t make a few people look like giant furry, medieval-weapons-weilding cats? While it may very well have been the technology that stalled and ultimately prevented the release of a Thundercats movie back in the late 1990s, that certainly shouldn’t be a problem today.
3. Timing.
With a tentative release date of 2010, Thundercats will ride the coattails of the great comic-book- and 80s-cartoon-inspired movie wave, following in the footsteps of current releases like Transformers, as well as movies like Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Sin City 2, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, and The Dark Knight, all set for released in 2008, as well as Spider-Man 4, Superman: Man of Steel and He-Man: Masters of the Universe, which are slated for release in 2009.
Appearing in theaters in 2010, the Thundercats movie will be able not only to capitalize on its preexisting adult fan base, the result of the cartoon’s popularity with children of the 1980s, but will be able to do so without coming too close on the heels of other cinematic adaptations of comic books and cartoons while simultaneously benefiting from this preexisting trend.
4. The choice is no longer in Warner Bros.’ hands.
Since I have taken it upon myself to cast all of the important characters, the studio now has no choice but to go ahead and produce the film. As I already mentioned, Kate Beckinsale as Cheetarah and Jake Gyllenhaal as Lion-O, and then Vinnie Jones (Gone in 60 Seconds, X-Men: The Last Stand) as Panthro, Freddie Rodriguez (Grindhouse) as Tygra, and as for the twins, Wiley-Kit and Wiley-Kat, the boy who plays Leonidas’ son in 300 and another unknown child actor as his female counterpart. As for Mummra, the disturbing but nevertheless necessary villain, Ed Harris would have to step in as both the old, wrinkled and bandaged mummified version and the crazy, bat-like, ultra-jacked version. And now that I’ve cast virtually every important character in the movie, Warner Bros. really has no reason not to finish this movie by the 2010 deadline. Hell, I’ll even give them until 2011, if it helps… and I’m not a patient person.
5. A Thundercats movie would fucking rock. Period.
This reason is pretty self explanatory, and after everything else I’ve already said it may seem a bit redundant, but honestly I think that it’s virtually impossible to overstress the degree to which this movie just needs to be made. Who wouldn’t love to watch giant humanoid cats running around with medieval weapons (can you say swords, nun chucks, maces… and if that isn’t enough, a sick Land Rover-esque vehicle that can tear through just about anything) and kicking the ass of an ancient crazy mummy bent on their destruction?
What do you think?
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