Live-action Robotech Movie

[azrael]

They can keep announcing writers until I'm grey and wrinkles (and I probably will be at this point). Until someone green-lights it, it's vaporware.

[hachi]

I hope this movie never gets made.

[M'Kyuun]

Likewise. And in a couple of years, I hope Tutsunoko refuses to renew Harmony Gold's Macross license, thus killing Robotech for good, and hopefully opening the way for Macross in the West, finally.

[Las Vegas Dad]

We can only hope & pray that HG loses that license. This movie won't be made in my lifetime

[JB0]

3 hours ago, hachi said:

I hope this movie never gets made.

I hope it DOES get made. It will be a hilarious trainwreck.

[Seto Kaiba]

4 hours ago, JB0 said:

I hope it DOES get made. It will be a hilarious trainwreck.

Eh... there's a not-so-fine line between "so bad it's funny" and "so bad you're embarrassed on behalf of people involved in it".

On the one side you've got your Dooms and your Plan 9 From Outer Spaces, but original Robotech productions usually land on the other side where films like the Star Wars Holiday Special, Ishtar, and Dragonball Evolution live.

They would be VERY lucky to get something even as funny-bad as Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation or Reefer Madness.

Edited April 3, 2019 by Seto Kaiba

[RavenHawk]

7 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

They would be VERY lucky to get something even as funny-bad as Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation or Reefer Madness.

Starship Troopers 2? I recall that one being just bad, not funny bad. I guess it depends on the mood you're in when you sit down to watch a movie (as well as expectations; that was only the first sequel, and I still had hopes).

[Seto Kaiba]

47 minutes ago, RavenHawk said:

Starship Troopers 2? I recall that one being just bad, not funny bad. I guess it depends on the mood you're in when you sit down to watch a movie (as well as expectations; that was only the first sequel, and I still had hopes).

For what it's worth, I've found that the difference between being funny-bad and embarrassing-bad usually lies in how seriously the cast is taking the truly awful screenplay they've been handed.

When the cast know they've been handed a real turd of a screenplay and make a heroic professional effort with it anyway, the result is usually a painful-to-watch mess that leaves you feeling a little bad for the cast.  Treating an awful screenplay with the same gravitas as an Oscar-worthy one just highlights how bad the screenplay was to begin with.

On the other hand, when the cast know they've been handed a steamer and either try and utterly fail to make a professional effort or simply can't be arsed, a truly bad screenplay can be transmuted into unintentional comedy gold.  A cast that decides to either have fun or be completely unprofessional with a bad screenplay can be enormously entertaining.

Starship Troopers 2 always felt to me like it belonged to the latter class, where the cut-rate cast knew from the outset that the screenplay would be illustrated with stinklines and went about Shatnering it up any time they stepped in front of the camera.  Watching them overact the hell out of every scene made a painfully generic sci-fi horror plot actually kind of fun, especially when the bottom fell out near the end and it devolved into a snarky zombie action flick instead.

Historically, Robotech has always desperately wanted to be taken seriously as both a science fiction series and an anime series.  They don't have the talent pool to turn out screenplays that aren't dreadful and are so committed to taking them completely seriously that the end result crosses the line twice into unwatchable stupidity.  If they stopped taking themselves and the series so seriously they could maybe achieve something in the field of ironic retro camp humor, but they seem to be holding out hope for a big budget sci-fi action movie like Paramount's Transformers film franchise, Star Trek, or Star Wars.  

[Bolt]

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Historically, Robotech has always desperately wanted to be taken seriously as both a science fiction series and an anime series.  They don't have the talent pool to turn out screenplays that aren't dreadful and are so committed to taking them completely seriously that the end result crosses the line twice into unwatchable stupidity.  If they stopped taking themselves and the series so seriously they could maybe achieve something in the field of ironic retro camp humor, but they seem to be holding out hope for a big budget sci-fi action movie like Paramount's Transformers film franchise, Star Trek, or Star Wars.  

They should really try for something like IRON SKY , hilarious absurdity. While most people might find it campy enough to appreciate, those of us that have been whatching the HG train wreck for years would get every inside joke and bust a guyt over the  laugh at itself , twisty silly plot shift treatment. 

Heeeeey.. isn’t the RT comic trying to be the inspiration for the screen play & story boards? Heehee

[Sgt Nate V]

I remember @Darkspire17 telling me on Discord back in February that the RT movie is pretty much dead (he got the info from a Sony contact) and that it was because HG was hard to work with. Yet at the RT panel at WonderCon they acted like the damn thing was still in production.

[Einherjar]

13 minutes ago, Sgt Nate V said:

I remember @Darkspire17 telling me on Discord back in February that the RT movie is pretty much dead (he got the info from a Sony contact) and that it was because HG was hard to work with. Yet at the RT panel at WonderCon they acted like the damn thing was still in production.

I think it’s safe to say that their vainglorious careers are over at this point.

[hachi]

22 hours ago, JB0 said:

I hope it DOES get made. It will be a hilarious trainwreck.

Well if it also financially backfires on HG/backers that would be fine :P

[Dynaman]

8 hours ago, Sgt Nate V said:

I remember @Darkspire17 telling me on Discord back in February that the RT movie is pretty much dead (he got the info from a Sony contact) and that it was because HG was hard to work with. Yet at the RT panel at WonderCon they acted like the damn thing was still in production.

If any movie studio has any deal with HG other than "Here is your check, stay out of our movie" I would be shocked.

[Gerli]

Shocking News...! Andy Muschetti confirmed The Flash as his new project.

No one expected that... right...? 

 

[Mazinger]

Curious what the nature of Sony's purchase of the film rights are.

Is there a time limit, for example on beginning production before the "rights" revert back to HG?

I wonder who they might try to scam next - sadly I fully expect there's another unwitting sucker out there somewhere in Hollywood ready to fall for this scam the next time around. 

Edited August 29, 2019 by Mazinger

[Knight26]

I wonder.  Could Tatsunoko have snuck something into the new rights contract regarding the movies that would declare everything null in void if a movie isn't made by a certain date?

[Einherjar]

It’s been two months since HG reps boldly stated that the franchise is going places.  Besides gritty independent comic books publications (again), I really can’t tell it apart from all the other years.

[Seto Kaiba]

45 minutes ago, Mazinger said:

Curious what the nature of Sony's purchase of the film rights are.

Is there a time limit, for example on beginning production before the "rights" revert back to HG?

Unfortunately, no data has been revealed that would indicate whether the license is a per annum renewal option or it a fixed multi-year term.  The license has never had to be aired in a court of law, which is about the only way we'd ever get details about its terms.  We don't even know when Warner Bros dropped the Robotech live action movie license because the minimal "news" coverage the project got never really progressed past the occasional short piece (falsely) claiming that someone or other had been tapped to direct or write the film.

My guess would be that it was a five or seven year license in both cases, with an option to renew/extend should the studio decide to move forward with production... meaning Sony has to decide to sh*t or get off the pot in either 2020 or 2022.  I'm guessing, given that they didn't know if they would be able to renew their license with Tatsunoko, that Harmony Gold wrote Sony a five year license terminating in 2020 unless extended.

 

45 minutes ago, Mazinger said:

I wonder who they might try to scam next - sadly I fully expect there's another unwitting sucker out there somewhere in Hollywood ready to fall for this scam the next time around. 

It's probably not a case of Harmony Gold's usual chicanery, as it's fairly common practice for Hollywood studios to react to a particular title being a smash hit by buying up rights to similar titles... either to cash in on a trend if one forms, or simply to deny them to each other.  

Let's just say it's no accident that Warner Bros suddenly developed an interest in Robotech shortly after Paramount released the first of the Michael Bay Transformers movies to great acclaim and a box office return 50% bigger than even Paramount itself had expected.  The Robotech license was picked up by Warner Bros because Robotech happened to be one of the contemporaries of the Transformers cartoon in 1985, and likewise featured giant transforming robots.  It's highly probable that Sony's decision to pick up the license after it was let go by Warner Bros was motivated by the critic-defying box office success of Transformers: Age of Extinction in summer 2014.  Like Warner Bros, Sony Pictures likely had no actual intention of ever making a movie... but holding onto the rights is a cheap way to have a potential competitor to Transformers should giant fighting robots become something which other studios start picking up on.

 

 

24 minutes ago, Knight26 said:

I wonder.  Could Tatsunoko have snuck something into the new rights contract regarding the movies that would declare everything null in void if a movie isn't made by a certain date?

Harmony Gold claims that what they secured was a renewal/extension of their existing licensing agreement with Tatsunoko, rather than any kind of reworked contract.

[pengbuzz]

On 4/3/2019 at 5:27 PM, Seto Kaiba said:

 If they stopped taking themselves and the series so seriously they could maybe achieve something in the field of ironic retro camp humor, but they seem to be holding out hope for a big budget sci-fi action movie like Paramount's Transformers film franchise, Star Trek, or Star Wars.  

Minus the actual big budget, of course...

[Einherjar]

At this point, what stopping official people at these Robotech convention panels from pretty much saying anything to drum up any kind of attention?  For me, the last time there were actually consequences for how they conducted themselves was the Robotech Academy Kickstarter.  They have been at it for so long I think that without the ability to dangle three unrelated shows at people's faces, they really have little to no credibility and anything they say should ever be taken seriously again.

[Bolt]

At the time of that last interview KM name dropped the co writer of Wonder woman (Jason..?) and a director. He also said we will see the movie development between hg and Sony unfold over the next 18 months(as of last late June early July)He strongly hinted that we will see further details on said movie by then..

I think that's just code for how long it's gonna take sony to get over hg throwing them pitches, hoping something sticks. Before Sony says Sayonara.

Best for the fans to look forward to the announced Southern Cross card game 

[Einherjar]

Name dropping means nothing at this point, especially if it’s just been one guy spreading it around like clockwork.  As a reminder, this thread is so old that it still uses tags for Warner Bros. and Tobey Maguire.  When they no longer involved there have been so many others who came and went on almost a yearly basis, from famous people from the 80’s and 00’s to an independent film type person who started out making car commercials (remember that guy?).

[Seto Kaiba]

8 hours ago, Einherjar said:

At this point, what stopping official people at these Robotech convention panels from pretty much saying anything to drum up any kind of attention?

Short of the possibility of saying something that crosses the line into fraud?  Not a lot...

Remember, Carl Macek used to tell people all the time that he created Macross, Southern Cross, and MOSPEADA and had "his" stories animated in Japan. 

 

8 hours ago, Einherjar said:

 For me, the last time there were actually consequences for how they conducted themselves was the Robotech Academy Kickstarter.  They have been at it for so long I think that without the ability to dangle three unrelated shows at people's faces, they really have little to no credibility and anything they say should ever be taken seriously again.

Even then, the consequences only really came into it because Robotech fans found their attempt to surf Carl Macek's coffin to the half-million dollar pledge goal distasteful and the pitch itself unpalatable because it was another Robotech 1 7/8: Approximately the Sentinels pitch... something that's rapidly becoming the fandom's berserk button.

 

 

5 hours ago, Bolt said:

At the time of that last interview KM name dropped the co writer of Wonder woman (Jason..?) and a director. He also said we will see the movie development between hg and Sony unfold over the next 18 months(as of last late June early July)He strongly hinted that we will see further details on said movie by then..

He's batting a perfect zero so far... every single claim Harmony Gold has made about who's involved has ended up being revealed to be false, so nobody has any reason to expect this one is any different.

 

5 hours ago, Bolt said:

Best for the fans to look forward to the announced Southern Cross card game 

Couldn't they look forward to something a little less unpleasant instead, like dental surgery?

[Bolt]

On 8/31/2019 at 5:01 PM, Seto Kaiba said:

Couldn't they look forward to something a little less unpleasant instead, like dental surgery?

Lol. They could and probably should..

[Thom]

Oh this thread has popped up again. Neat.

[peter]

11 hours ago, Thom said:

Oh this thread has popped up again. Neat.

I still can't believe this thing has a pulse.

[Gerli]

27 minutes ago, peter said:

I still can't believe this thing has a pulse.

It's on Intensive Care now

 

(Link to the article, in spanish)

https://www.lacapital.com.ar/escenario/los-proximos-proyectos-robotech-the-flash-n2525479.html?fbclid=IwAR2OuOf6sBJsROLSk3BXDnP25yF0g9DtkCvVH15ix-RfexteTtWtlUusSnk?fbclid=IwAR2OuOf6sBJsROLSk3BXDnP25yF0g9DtkCvVH15ix-RfexteTtWtlUusSnk

[Seto Kaiba]

17 minutes ago, Gerli said:

It's on Intensive Care now

No, it's dead... these clowns couldn't get their own fans to cough up $500k to resuscitate a property they allegedly love, and even Harmony Gold itself balked at the idea of spending $1 million on continuing Shadow Chronicles.  Nobody's going to throw $100+ million at Robotech.

[Einherjar]

Hmm, KM wasn’t lying.  It took 2 months instead of 18 for some juicy details about the movie. 

[Gerli]

12 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

No, it's dead... 

But... that's too soon! We still have 35 more years to make it...!!!

[Seto Kaiba]

17 minutes ago, Einherjar said:

Hmm, KM wasn’t lying.  It took 2 months instead of 18 for some juicy details about the movie. 

For added entertainment value, this is the first actual candid piece of news about the film project in its twelve year history... and it's one of the directors approached about the film very bluntly stating that a live action movie just isn't realistic because the brand's too obscure. 

[Mazinger]

También hay interés por «Atack On Titan», con Warner.

Another nugget in that article from La Capital: "There is also interest in 'Attack on Titan', with Warner"

So Hollywood is seeing the difficulties with RT and would rather hop on the new hotness?  I don't blame them though AoT is also gonna be a challenge to translate into a single movie.  I still haven't seen the JP live action though.  Maybe it can work.

[Keith]

4 hours ago, Mazinger said:

También hay interés por «Atack On Titan», con Warner.

Another nugget in that article from La Capital: "There is also interest in 'Attack on Titan', with Warner"

So Hollywood is seeing the difficulties with RT and would rather hop on the new hotness?  I don't blame them though AoT is also gonna be a challenge to translate into a single movie.  I still haven't seen the JP live action though.  Maybe it can work.

It was a lit like the quick writes they did in the first FMA series.

[Focslain]

4 hours ago, Mazinger said:

I still haven't seen the JP live action though.  Maybe it can work.

Count yourself lucky. AoT LA was a train wreck and a boring one to boot and it had two movies try and failed.

[pengbuzz]

If HG wanted to make money, they should make a documentary (with a digital camcorder that doesn't require film) of how they tried to resurrect RT all those times. Then just label it "The Making of Robotech". Then they could promote it as a comedy; I think at least a few people would see it just out of boredom.