Maguire and WB Team Up for ‘Robotech’

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on September 7, 2007

The success of Transformers this summer, some $650+ domestic gross worth of success, has seemed to spawn other studios in Hollywood to go after their own “Giant F^&king Robots” franchises. We’ve all heard of Regency’s plans to make a Voltron flick. Next to jump on the bandwagon are the folks at Warner Brothers, who are teaming up with Tobey Maguire - yes, the little dude who played Spider-Man - to bring us an adaptation of the popular 1980’s cartoon “Robotech”, so says The Hollywood Reporter.

According to the report from Toronto, Maguire will be producing the flick through his company, Maguire Entertainment in conjunction with WB and Drew Crevello’s Supercool Hollywood BigTime Prods. (which has a way cooler name than Maguire’s company, by the way).

The only problem is that “Robotech” is one of those series that is so deep and complex that it will be hard to sift through years of story to come up with what should be a feature-length motion picture. At least, it will be a difficult task to live up to the expectations of fans of the series. But as Maguire sees it, “There is a rich mythology that will be a great foundation for a sophisticated, smart and entertaining film.” Okay Peter Parker, we’ll take that answer. At least until we see the script.

The story of “Robotech” takes place in a time when Earth has developed their own giant robots from an alien spaceship that crash landed on an island in the South Pacific. Mankind is then forced to defend itself against waves of alien invasions, mostly from forces who are looking to reclaim their source of power, known as the AllSpark, I mean “protoculture”. Sorry, wrong 1980’s giant robot cartoon. Of course, the world’s survival rests in the hands of two young pilots who must lead the charge.

Aside from the obvious parallels to Transformers and Voltron, I don’t think that the moviegoing public will ever really get sick of CGI-enhanced 2 hour long robot infested Michael Bay-gasms. Five years down the road when Voltron 2, Transformers 3 and Robotech 2 are all releasing in the same summer movie season, we may all be singing a different tune. But for now, bring on more giant f*&kin’ robots!

Officially there is no start date for the production as of yet.

On the Side: My only question is to whether the nice looking young lady in the image below (Taken from the upcoming Robotech DVD release “Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles”) will be a part of the movie. If so, I recommend Scarlett Johansson. Because as our friends at CHUD point out, she’s down for anything. And I would like to see what she looks like as a red-head. Just a thought. Tobey, call me and we will discuss it…

Do you have a hot scoop that you’d like to share? Email me at neil@filmschoolrejects.com.

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