LIVE ACTION ROBOTECH (WB gets the rights)

[Zinjo]

Actually, do you think they will keep the title "Robotech"? It just sounds a little too corny for a feature film. May be it can get away with it like Transformer. I felt alright in the office to discuss Transformer over the coffee break, but I just can't imagine I walk up to my college and say: "Wooa...have you seen Robotech!!!" I think I'll get the stare....

Prolly, it's the brandname of the show, just like "Transformers". It is what identifies what it is in the market.

[dodgethis]

Welllllllllllllllll.. They don't name their games BATTLETECH it's called MECHWARRIOR.. So when they start to use BATTLETECH I'll use BATTLETECH.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battletech

The franchise is called BattleTech. The computer games and the pen and paper RPG are called MechWarrior. So calling the entire franchise by the name of one of it's spinoffs is pretty dumb. Much like how no one calls Robotech BAttlecry.

Edited September 11, 2007 by dodgethis

[peter]

I hope it doesn't get made...and if it does, I hope it doesn't involve any Macross or Mospeada character/mehca designs.....

[jenius]

Don't forget, Hollywood is all about the trilogy and RT is a trilogy already on its own. I'm sure there will be a ton of altering to the story and designs but i wouldn't be surprised if the movie, in the hopes that it will be the first, has a similar start and end (sans the reconstruction arch) as TMS.

[Roy Focker]

I think I'll take this time to remind people of the "Rift" movie. A property from Palladium Books that Jerry Bruckheimer got the rights for. That was about a couple of years ago. Getting the right to do a movie doesn't mean a movie will actually happen. This just the first step it may take years before it ever reaches production.

[terry the lone wolf]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battletech

The franchise is called BattleTech. The computer games and the pen and paper RPG are called MechWarrior. So calling the entire franchise by the name of one of it's spinoffs is pretty dumb. Much like how no one calls Robotech BAttlecry.

You see! You said ROBOTECH: Battlecry not just Battlecry. Now if the game was called BATTLETECH: Mechwarrior(and I wonder why they dropped the BATTLETECH title for the game)......Also, I didn't call the entire "francise" MECHWARRIOR but since that's FASA's cash cow nowadays that's what I'm referring to. Finally, if you can't hold an intelligent conversation without throwing an insult maybe you should drop this? Besides, don't get mad at me that FASA was using STOLEN designs.

[Zinjo]

I think I'll take this time to remind people of the "Rift" movie. A property from Palladium Books that Jerry Bruckheimer got the rights for. That was about a couple of years ago. Getting the right to do a movie doesn't mean a movie will actually happen. This just the first step it may take years before it ever reaches production.

True.

Buying the rights is like reserving the option to make a movie, nothing more.

A script is being written, and then another will be written and possibly a third, then if the studio greenlights the project the "actual" producer will find a director and more changes to the script will ensue. Then if schedules align, they'll set a production schedule and start casting. All this could take years and then ultimately the studio could decide to drop the project because the stars they are set on are unavailable or the latest shiny new fad catches their eye.

Doubtless they'll keep paying HG for the rights every few years to keep their options open and never shoot a foot of film. This is just as likely as an actual greenlit production, and is often more common than many might realize.

Edited September 11, 2007 by Zinjo

[sabretooth]

so robotech won't see daylight until at least 2 yrs.

[TheLoneWolf]

Doesn't meant that they can't redesign the valks and give us *shudder* bayformer valks. *throws up imagining what that would look like*

Exactly! If this movie ever takes off the ground we'll either see Alphas in place of the VF-1, or bayformers

I'm gonna go with bayformers, it goes perfectly with WB's "me too" mindset.

[Sumdumgai]

I have a feeling this is going to look like Exo-squad the Movie.

[azrael]

I thought it was determined that Tatusnoko had international distribution and merchandising rights, and those they sold to Harmony Gold?

Yes. My point was, where did this talk of DYRL? come in.

Two years is probably a good estimate. If they finish a studio ready script by the end of the year, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to be made right then. WB might just buy up the script and sit on it. Then comes the issue of shopping for a director, cast, SFX house, etc. Look at Halo. Universal and Fox backed out because they weren't sure about it. If WB doesn't think they can get money back from this, you can bet they'll sit on it.

[Black Valkyrie]

After this movie succeeds or not I hope hollywood doesn`t try to adapt one of Go Nagai super robots for a live action movie .

[Zinjo]

so robotech won't see daylight until at least 2 yrs.

If they actually started filming this year, probably, as there will be extensive post production work involved. With the looming strike and the fact they only annouced the rights acquision, it could easily be longer.

External events like strikes or war, tend to derail projects, sometimes for years. Sept. 11 essentially killed the Battlestar move

Desanto and Singer were working on and the movie never recovered.

The Halo movie is now in limbo for various reasons and it has a wider fanbase than RT, so anything can happen at this point.

[Black Valkyrie]

I think Reiko Aylesworth fits for Misa/Lisa.

[Scream Man]

Maybe the movie will be based on the mckinney novels? Hehe mecha will be controlled using a "thinking cap".

I never minded those novels. They had a lot of good ideas in them. Stuff like the thinking cap (Which needed a better name, granted) goes a long way towards explaining some of the things a VF plane can do...

Frank Agrama is a "producer" on the movie, but that just means he gets a paycheck from it and his company, HG gets a check for the movie rights. It doesn't mean there will be any fidelity to the animation whatsoever. If that were their aim, they would have brought more HG staff on board, but they didn't.

Well, if he's a Producer then he has a helluva lot more stuff to do than just collect his paycheck. Producers handle a lot of the logistics, negotiation and finance for the film. Now if he is an executive producer, thats more of a paycheck thing. It usually means that they have given the profuction a heap of money...

[mikeszekely]

I have a feeling this is going to look like Exo-squad the Movie.

That'd kick ass. In fact, someone should make Exo-Squad: The Movie.

[Zinjo]

I never minded those novels. They had a lot of good ideas in them. Stuff like the thinking cap (Which needed a better name, granted) goes a long way towards explaining some of the things a VF plane can do...

Well, if he's a Producer then he has a helluva lot more stuff to do than just collect his paycheck. Producers handle a lot of the logistics, negotiation and finance for the film. Now if he is an executive producer, thats more of a paycheck thing. It usually means that they have given the profuction a heap of money...

He is named as an executive producer which = paycheck. It's a bribe to get him to sign (he is the principle shareholder in HG) the contract.

He prolly gets a a nice fat check and a percentage of the profits. Jason Netter & Tobey Maguire are producing. Netter has ties with HG, but also has produced other projects as well and Maguire has hollywood clout.

Guaranteed that if there is any substantial budget the studio will be controlling a lot of the production with such greenhorns producing.

[Guest sh002]

vf-1s revealed.

[Sumdumgai]

wow, I never thought I'd see a VF-1S with a camel toe before.

[Zinjo]

vf-1s revealed.

Baybots rein supreme!

[eugimon]

Baybots rein supreme!

OMG, un-named director raped my childhood!

[CoryHolmes]

OMG, un-named director raped my childhood!

I suspect we'll be hearing a great deal more of that as this project (hopefully) moves forward

[eugimon]

I suspect we'll be hearing a great deal more of that as this project (hopefully) moves forward

well, with the possible strike looming, this project may get the green light and the fast track... otherwise, it maybe a year or more before we hear anything more than speculation and the grinding sound of millions of fanboys gnashing their teeth.

[the white drew carey]

I heard FASA obtained their licence from a illegitimate source(ala with Malibu Comics & their Captain Harlock series). It was Revell that had the true licence to manufacture MACROSS related merchandise under the ROBOTECH moniker. HG sublicenced from Tatsunoko(I guess the rights they eventually bought) & Revell. It was proven that FASA didn't have a legitimate claim on those designs so they had to stop using Valkyrie & Destroid models in their game(though they've been making dervitives on MACROSS mecha for years ala MECHWARRIOR). I know about the new designs from Studio Nue but that has nothing to do with the HG case.

Not that it means much of anything, but I have a couple of the old Battletech 2" model kits (imports of the Nichimo Macross kits) from 1986, and it clearly says "Licensed by Tatsunoko Productions" on the instructions.

IIRC, the concept that HG layeth the smacketh down on FASA to stop using the designs was always assumption. It could be that their license ran out and they did not/or weren't allowed to, renew it.

It could also be that FASA, after having licensed those model kits, fell in the same trap as HG did, and thought that this license gave them all kinds of rights that they really didn't have.

Simply put, unless they're lying, FASA did get a license to legitimately release the Nichimo kits here in the U.S., as to anything else, I'm not sure.

[Robotech_Master]

IIRC, the concept that HG layeth the smacketh down on FASA to stop using the designs was always assumption. It could be that their license ran out and they did not/or weren't allowed to, renew it.

You don't "RC." Harmony Gold did legally smack FASA around and I can prove it.

It went like this.

Back in the day, FASA was shopping around their BattleTech properties to try to get toys and/or cartoons made of them. (They eventually succeeded, but the cartoon was by all reports Teh SuXX0r.)

One of the people they showed their materials to was Playmates.

Funny thing, but later on Playmates came out with an ExoSquad line of power suits and mechs, and funny thing: one of the ExoSquad "E-Frame" mechs was nearly the spitting image of a BattleTech MadCat. (One of the newer Clans designs, completely unrelated to the Macross/Dougram material.)

Eventually, FASA noticed, said, "Hey, you can't do that!" and sued Playmates. In retrospect, this probably was not the wisest thing they could have done considering their relative sizes and budgets; it was akin to a mouse suing a tiger.

Now, as it happened, Playmates was, at the time, partnered with Harmony Gold to do some re-issues of Matchbox Robotech toys under the ExoSquad brand name. We'll probably never know whose idea it was, but it's easy to imagine someone on Playmates, or on their legal defense team, sort of tapping Harmony Gold on the shoulder and saying, "You know, those early BattleTech mech designs look awfully familiar." Based on some of their other behavior in the case, it seems like the sort of thing Playmates's rather slimy legal team would have done. (Ironically, FASA no longer made much significant use of any of those designs anyway, having long since moved on to newer stuff and completely different designs.)

It came out that FASA licensed, or thought it licensed, the mecha designs from the company that made the Macross and Dougram model kits. Maybe they thought the model company had the rights to license them. Maybe the model company thought they had the rights to license them. I'm told by people who know that Japanese contract law is severely muddled at the best of times. But it turned out that they only had the right to make models based on the shows, not sublicense the designs to other firms for other uses—and Harmony Gold, at least at the time, believed they had the rights to the Macross series, the designs used in the series, and all its derivative properties in the USA, and was willing to take action over it. (As to why they'd waited so long, well, for the late '80s and much of the '90s Harmony Gold was all but hibernating, not paying much attention to Robotech or to other Macross properties. This was probably the beginning of their wake-up process that eventually led to Robotech 3000 and Shadow Chronicles.)

So, first FASA sued Playmates, and then Harmony Gold sued FASA in response. To make a long story short, Playmates prevailed over FASA because FASA couldn't quite prove the design was similar enough, and FASA settled out of court with Harmony Gold and stopped using the Macross designs altogether. FASA eventually ceased active business operations to become an IP holding company (some game-industry vets to whom I've spoken say that the legal fees this litigation piled up were a strong contributing factor) and the BattleTech rights were later picked up by WizKids (a company founded by FASA co-founder Jordan Weisman).

All the legal documents pertaining to the case I've been able to find are linked on this page. There are a number of amusing things in them, such as a third-party representative of FASA signing a consent form that signed away rights he actually had no authority to sign away (you'd think business people would read these things before they sign, but it looks like they're just the same as the rest of us in that regard), and Playmates's lawyers trying to do an end-run around the judge when the judge refuses to pile their legal fees onto FASA (and the judge's venomous final opinion, issued on April 1st and you can't tell me that's coincidental, after it's remanded back to him to justify his decision more fully).

That should settle once and for all the idea that HG suing FASA was just an "assumption."

Edited September 12, 2007 by Robotech_Master

[Ginrai]

That's not quite right. FASA didn't go out of business. Microsoft BOUGHT them so they could have the lucrative MechWarrior video games exclusive to their platforms and dissolved FASA. They basically ate FASA for their intellectual property.

[jenius]

LOL... welcome to MacrossWorld he who layeth the smacketh down.

[Robotech_Master]

That's not quite right. FASA didn't go out of business. Microsoft BOUGHT them so they could have the lucrative MechWarrior video games exclusive to their platforms and dissolved FASA. They basically ate FASA for their intellectual property.

Wrong.

Microsoft bought FASA Interactive, the computer-game subsidiary of FASA. Not FASA itself.

FASA unexpectedly ceased active operations in early 2001, but still exists as a corporation holding intellectual property rights, which it licenses to other publishers. Contrary to popular belief, the company did not go bankrupt. —Wikipedia

[Ishimaru]

Is BigWest going to have any due in copyrights?

I'd be pissed if they weren't credited for making the series.

[Apollo Leader]

Is BigWest going to have any due in copyrights?

I'd be pissed if they weren't credited for making the series.

Depends on what is directly taken from Macross whether it be designs or names. Again, this movie is way early in its development.

[Apollo Leader]

Wrong.

Microsoft bought FASA Interactive, the computer-game subsidiary of FASA. Not FASA itself.

BTW, are you THE Robotech Master of Space Station Liberty fame?

[jenius]

I'd be pissed if they weren't credited for making the series

It's not like HG is big on giving out credit... and "the series" is beyond BW, just the first chapter. So yeah, I'm guessing BW wouldn't have much of a claim after all the alterations that are probably going to take place.

[Zinjo]

(As to why they'd waited so long, well, for the late '80s and much of the '90s Harmony Gold was all but hibernating, not paying much attention to Robotech or to other Macross properties. This was probably the beginning of their wake-up process that eventually led to Robotech 3000 and Shadow Chronicles.)

Actually Ahmed Agrama and eventually Frank were actively persuing foreign TV properties and films to distribute in the US market during that time as well as producing independent live action films. Robotech's popularity was in decline in the market and they focused on their other business interests. It wasn't until the late 90's and the advent of the DVD format, that the RT fanbase was re-ignited.

Depends on what is directly taken from Macross whether it be designs or names. Again, this movie is way early in its development.

Very true. There is little reason to believe any Macross properties will make it into the film. There may not be any Mospeada properties either for that matter...

[Keith]

Is BigWest going to have any due in copyrights?

I'd be pissed if they weren't credited for making the series.

HG's never credited them before. The extent of their Japanese credits were mentioning Tatsunoko. So I doubt any of that would change now.

As for the topic of live action Go Nagai mentioned earlier, i thought Anno's Cutie Honey was a great live action adaptation. Something like Mazinger Z would also lend itself well to a (Japanese) live production. Simple story, easily enough told within 2 hours, and giant robots busting sh!t up.

ROCKETO PUUUUNCH

BREAAST FIIYAAA

JEETTOO SCURRANDAAA!

[Renato]

I think this movie's credits are about as likely to mention BigWest as the Transformers movie mentioned Takara's Diaclone or Microman toylines. Actually, I am not aware that it mentioned Takara at all.