live-action Robotech movie

Khyron’s ghost! there’s a live action Robotech movie in the works??

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Spider-Man star Tobey Maguire will produce and may star in a film based on the classic SF anime Robotech, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Warner Brothers Pictures picked up the rights to Robotech, which features giant robots known as mechas. Maguire is producing through his Maguire Entertainment banner and is eyeing the lead role in what the studio plans as an SF franchise a la Paramount’s hit Transformers.
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Robotech takes place at a time when Earth has developed giant robots from the technology on an alien spacecraft that crashed on a South Pacific isle. Mankind is forced to use the technology to fend off three successive waves of alien invasions. The first invasion concerns a battle with a race of giant warriors who seek to retrieve their flagship’s energy source, known as “protoculture,” and the planet’s survival ends up in the hands of two young pilots.

There was a debate in the Otakusphere recently about why mecha anime suck/don’t suck, so this is timely news. Robotech was always defined by its mecha, but the mecha are as much characters as anyone else. That goes as much Rick’s jet (formerly Roy’s) in Skull Squadron as it does for the grande dame, the SDF-1 herself. And at the same time, they also blended into the background – the drama that made Robotech such a soap opera was always heavily centered on the characters, from the original Bridge Bunnies to Captain Gloval to the ultimate love triangle of Rick-Minmei-Lisa.

It obviously goes without saying that if you’re looking for a good mecha anime, I’d recommend Robotech highly.

7 thoughts on “live-action Robotech movie”

  1. Robotech? Robotech? Someone asks for a good mecha anime and you offer Robotech?!? 🙂

    Well, actually, part of being a child of the 80s, I do remember watching bits and pieces of the series on T.V. when I was young. And I did later watch the whole series later on in High School. Soap opera with mecha is right; the series did a great job of sucking me in, even if it was actually a heavily edited combination of three separate anime series

    In any case, the movie is a curiosity for me…

  2. yup, and I stand by it 🙂 I’ve heard many people say that Robotech as a whole is far superior to the various Macross incarnation source materials. They really managed to turn three average ho-hum mecha anime series into one magnificent epic.

    I was first introduced to Robotech (on a case of bootleg VHS tapes) during finals week at the end of my first year of college. I finished the entire series… in three days. During finals week. Yes, I passed, but I wouldn’t recommend starting Robotech during anything even half as important. You start this series and you just get sucked in.

    I’m curious what role Tobey wants for himself. I assume Rick Hunter…

  3. actually, a bad actor might be just the ticket for the role of Rick. He’s the worst single character in the entire series. He has precisely one note. It’s like a cartoon version of James T Kirk.

  4. I grew up wth robotech and i loved it then and i still love it now. I have all the videos on DVD and have the Masterpiece Collection and making it a live action movie would be the coolest thing. When it comes out i will be there for sure!!!!

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