Sony Pictures has secured rights to the popular anime series “Robotech” and views the project as a potential film franchise.
The studio hopes to move quickly into production on the live-action feature, with Gianni Nunnari and Mark Canton (“300,” “The Immortals”) producing and Michael Gordon (“300,” “GI Joe”) writing the script. The series centered on humanity’s use of robot technology to fend off alien invaders and has an “Independence Day” meets “Star Wars” vibe. It is seen as having the global appeal necessary to become a blockbuster property.
The project will be overseen at Sony Pictures by Sony Pictures Entertainment Group President Doug Belgrad, Columbia Pictures Production Chief Michael De Luca, and Sony Pictures Vice President of Creative Production Matthew Milam.
“‘Robotech’ is unique in that it has always been a marriage of spectacle with human characters that seem drawn from life,” said De Luca. “That’s why we are so excited to be working with Mark and Gianni as we move forward on this project. With a history that offers an epic love triangle, a renegade hero, and a world on the brink of extinction, ‘Robotech’ offers a wide scope and a rich and impressive universe where the story possibilities are endless.”
“Robotech” derives from a series of popular Japanese TV shows that made their way over to the United States in the 1980s, eventually inspiring books, role playing games, video games, toys and collectibles.
“I’m thrilled to be back in business with Sony Pictures and Gianni and I look forward to working with the studio on this global franchise-driven opportunity,” said Canton, who ran the studio in the 1990s. “‘Robotech’ is a very significant and legendary part of the growth of anime into the force that it is today, and we’re excited to be adapting it for modern audiences.”
The rights to the material had originally been at Warner Bros. with Tobey Maguire and Akiva Goldsman on board as producers. At various points the project attracted interest from the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and commercial director Nic Mathieu, but the studio never moved forward with a feature film. When they became free, they were nabbed Canton’s Atmosphere and Nunnari’s Hollywood Gang labels.
“When the rights to ‘Robotech’ became available we jumped; Mark and I knew it had what big movies in today’s world must have if they want to grab everyone: insane visuals and powerful themes,” said Nunnari. “The characters in ‘Robotech’ wrestle with both the destructive and redemptive powers of technology; nothing is more relevant today than that.”
Frank Agrama of Harmony Gold, which is the original intellectual property rights holder, will executive produce with Michael Gordon and Jehan Agrama. Leonard B. Rosman and Christy Duran will serve as co-producers.
The deal on behalf of Harmony Gold and the producers was negotiated by Ralph P Brescia of Bloom Hergott, together with Leonard B. Rosman, Esq. of the Law Offices of Leonard B. Rosman and Christy Duran, Esq. of Harmony Gold.
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I was just Three when Robotech was launched on America so I really didn’t grow up with it. But latter when I met my late husband he turned me onto anime and Robotech and I fell in love with it. Now I read all these comments and none of you really get the point, your arguing that it should be done in Japan or it needs to be directed by this person or that person. But like I said you all missed it and that is FINALLY Carl Macek’s dream for the Robotech Universe will be achieved. It’s a shame he and my husband didn’t live to see this but now they have the best seats in the house. My only hope is that they stay true to the story and the characters (and that means Lynn Minmei needs to be played by a young girl of Asian decent and not some bimbo with big… eyes). The makers of the film (writer, director and actors) need to realize that Robotech has been around for thirty years and the fans know this story so well that they can nearly act each episode out word for word.
Robotech story is to long to be told in movies setting, they should make it a tv series, like the cartoon!
No Rex, you are wrong, Macross was the original, later on Carl Macek l adapted for American audiences, google it.
Robotech should not be produces in America , they will ruin it.
let studio nue and big west produce the move in Japanese then later dub it ln English with American actors. japan will do it right.
Why? Robotech is American. Last time the Japanese had access to this material they put out “Macross” and we all know what a piece of shit that was.
#CarlMacek
rofl
Sony we still waiting to see when you will give a certain director/writer a budget. We been waiting five years.
I’d love to watch a Robotech trilogy or more…but I want to see James Cameron or Riddley Scott behind the project…
Too bad they can’t use any of the original Macross mecha designs as Big West and Studio Nue won’t allow Harmony Gold use them. So they’re either forced to recreate it back from scratch, meaning it’s not going to be the Robotech every one remembers. Or they’re going to be forced go with the 3rd generation story plot and basis.
I hope Sony doesn’t screw it up like they have the Fantastic Four movie…
My brother used to watch Robotech and he did used to watch Gundam Wing at all time. He had toys of Gundam Wing but I’m not sure he had a Robotech toys before. Maybe he still have some Gundam toys or not. He used to have them and collected them. He have 2 Gundam Wing DVDs.
Robotech was by far my favorite cartoon series as a child. I read the books, all of the books, I had a lot of the toys, and I have the DVD collections at home. I think it was a series that was profoundly creative, forward thinking, visionary, and extremely engaging in so many ways. I think it’s a great thing that they’re making a series out of it through live action movies, but as some other people have commented I am very dismayed to hear who will be making them.
Movies like GI Joe and 300 were, in my opinion, sensationalist trash. This movie, Robotech, deserves so much better. It deserves the best director, the best cast, and most of all, the best writers. I don’t see much out there that could have a bigger impact, popularity wise or money wise, then something like Robotech. The story is better than Star Wars.
If done well it could be really incredible, I hope very much they do it justice.
I love Robotech. It was my favorite TV series when I was a little kid. I collected the books. Had all the episodes on VHS. Even found and collected the original Japanese version of Macross. I love Robotech.
But I have zero faith in Sony’s ability to make it into a series of movies.
Robotech/Macross is an epic. A Space-Opera so rich in mythology and story, that it cannot be condensed into simply, 90 minute clips. Even attempt to make Macross into animated films in Japan have failed, because the story is simply too big to tell effectively in a condensed format. The cast of characters is too big, and how those characters are interconnected makes it nearly impossible to remove any one of them and maintain the integrity of the story.
Combine these daunting problems with Sony’s long standing reputation for screwing niche films up (Robocop), interfering with productions to the detriment of the project (Spider-Man 3), pushing to create Marvel style franchises it cannot hope to sustain (Amazing SM 2 / Aunt May movie / Sinister 6), and the clear indications that this is less of an attempt to make a good Robotech film, but instead another desperate bid to create their own franchise series, it becomes very clear that Sony’s intentions consist of the same shallow mechanization we’ve seen before.
Variety reports that they want to move quickly, suggesting desperation for financial solvency following the 2014 hacker scandal, not a desire to do the project right. Proof of this hail-marry bid is with whom they’ve intrusted the project. They have chose a creative team so cringe-worthy, just thinking about it could make one’s teeth shatter.
Producers Gianni Nunnari and Mark Canton brought us “300: Rise of an Empire”, and “Immortals”, two of the worst films of the last decade. Writer Michael B. Gordon… a man whose ONLY writing credits are “300”, a film in which he only converted a graphic novel into a screenplay (i.e. he did no real creative work), and “300, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” (in which he raped the G.I. Joe universe with his ineptitude and stupidity). These clown-car rejects are our creative team!?! What? Was David Rimawi and Steve Bevilacqua from the The Asylum not available?
Sigh…
I love Robotech. But everything we’ve heard thus far makes me shudder in terror at how one of my most precious childhood memories is about to be gang-raped by Hollywood hacks, so Sony can rake in some extra bucks after their disastrous 2014 run.
Would really like to see a GOOD live-action film of the Gundam universe but that’s just a dream I bet…But as for this, the love triangle may be appealing but I don’t know about the giant Zentradi…or maybe they will be different in the film. We’ll see I guess.
My fav show ever, i hope they do a good job
I can’t wait to write a review.
It is what it is. money will be made and we will all gripe about something. Lets see where this goes!
the cast of the dreams would be Casey Aflleck and Sam rockwell for the main pilots. Anna Kendrick for the lead woman/singer. ellen page as a cool female daredevil pilot (would be great fun with sam rockwell).. the original VF-1S design (DON’T CHANGE THE ORIGINAL DESIGN or you’ll be banned for life like you did with spiderman, sony! be careful with that, it’s your money! ;) )… and Duncan Jones as a director.
Harmony Gold doesn’t own the rights to any of the mecha used in the Macross saga anymore as they F’d over the creators of Macross, so sony will have to create new mecha for this movie.
I myself watched Robotech as a kid and loved it but then I found out that Robotech: the Macross saga was adapted from Macross (original version) I started to watch and still watch Macross to this day and the whole idea of Robotech p&$$es me of that I will never get a world release of Macross (any of the series) outside of Japan, at least I have the fan sub version I guess.
Yeah, they have their own alternate universes. The great deal in producing this Hollywood movie is adapting the real Macross saga with the epic love triangle (Lynn Minmay-Hikaru Ichijyo (RIck Hunter)-Misa Hayase (Lisa Hayes)) againsta a massive universal war in a span of 90++ minutes. Actually, the “Macross: Do You Remember Love?” movie did condense the 36-episode Macross saga to around the same length. Now, adapting it to live-action hopefully will not be that difficult. This should just be epic! I hope the men helming this project will not do a disservice to the story (Robotech/Macross) and the fans like us. Haha!
Hi Ben, I agree with you, but for the sake of marketing the success of Robotech and Harmony Gold, the VF-1S/A/J are iconic elements from Macross and is Macross. I think HG will need to move on and evolve, steer itself away from Macross. This movie can be a great start to do just that, introduce the VF-1 for the first 20 minutes and move on to introducing new techs/mechs/characters. This movie can be a building stone for the new Robotech and for future fans. I’m a fan of Robotech, and no disrespect to Macek, but feel like I was lied-to and misdirected.
Hey Brent, how about you write about how Harmony Gold is violating international treaties by doing this, and how they don’t actually own the rights to sell Sony in the first place? That article would get a lot more hits than this.
Harmony Gold certainly has the right to sell the Robotech universe it has created for its dubbing, and it is the Robotech trilogy we are seeing, not a Macross trilogy. After all, Robotech is not Macross.
Where the issue comes in, is that they don’t technically own any of the rights to the Macross IP, which the animation of the first 1/3 of the Robotech series is almost a direct copy. Meaning they used the actual animation from Macross and dubbed over it and probably made a few edits, for length, content, etc.
The international distribution rights are held by Tatsunoko Production Co., which did all the animation for Macross, and they essentially sold the US and UK distribution rights to Harmony Gold. The problem is that Tatsunoko doesn’t actually own the Macross IP, Studio Nue does. Studio Nue is the actual creator of the Macross series.
So what this could lead to are international lawsuits for violation of the Macross IP, unless they choose to change the way everything looks, like the Veri-techs, the Macross, etc. If they don’t change the designs, then they may end up only being able to release it in the US and UK.
Of course there is a possible solution. Since Sony is now involved, instead of WB, they may be able to use their clout as one of the largest companies in Japan, to obtain the Macross IP from Studio Nue. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens. Maybe all the parties involved will just come to an agreement. They all make some money and everyone is happy.
This project will bomb, because no one outside of US knows that a Robotech is, it is all Macross to them. This will be seen as a cheap imposter to Macross to world audiences.
Also Latin America got Robotech instead of Macross.
The UK knows what Robotech is. The real issues is that without getting permission from the original Macross IP holder, Studio Nue, then they might not even be able to release it outside of the US and UK anyways. At least not unless they change the designs of everything so it doesn’t look like the original Macross series.
Of course, if they work out a deal with Studio Nue, then they may be able to release it under the Macross name in the rest of the world. You never know what could happen. We’ll have a better idea once it gets closer to release.
Throw enough money into marketing and make a good product, and they can succeed. Nobody knew anything about a lot of successful movies before they became successful.
If they are relying on name recognition, I certainly don’t think there are enough people even in the United States to make the movie successful.
But to your point, I think people who know the series as Macross will be able to read between the lines and come to understand it for what it is. After all, you know it as both, don’t you? :)
For The Record – It is the MACROSS SAGA that holds the most weight in the ROBOTECH Amalgam of Japanese Anime. I just hope they keep the characters true to form and seek out “MACROSS: Do You Remember Love?” and “MACROSS: The First” Manga as inspirations. Keeping it real close to the “original source material” could make this an EPIC event.
Harmony Gold has no intention of doing that. Harmony Gold has its own Robotech universe separate from that of Macross, and this is a Robotech movie. You can be assured that non-NA audiences that has never seen Robotech will be repulsed by this movie.
I still think Voltron would make a good franchise. The one with the lions, not the other one…
Hollywood is completely incapable of making a good movie. Slow motion, lens flare, over-use of CGI and that god-awful, eye-gouging teal-and-blue color scheme is all we’ll get. Transformers dumbed down even further. Let’s hope Harmony Gold acts like themselves and screws this deal up again.
Katy Perry as Minmei
OMG, JK, I’ve been posting “Katy Perry as Minmei” for ever! LOL. I was convinced the firs time seeing this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDebwTnsud0
You can be assured Minmei will be played by some big name Chinese female singer that you never heard of but is otherwise big in China to win the co-production status.
I still prefer macross over robotech
Macross is the better story.
I love this anime for a very long time I’m excited that it will make it to big screen lets hope the one producing the film will stick to the origin cause this is a gem of a movie
As long as J.J. Abrams, MIchael Bay or Leonardo DiCrapio have nothing to do with the movie it might turn out OK.
I even like the work of Nic Mathieu. It spoke to what Macross or Anime to Film could look like (as PACIFIC RIM proved it could be EPIC GOODNESS)!
Totally agree!
Great. /s
From the studio that managed to wreck the Spider-man franchise. They won’t get it right. I bet they try to fit in some looney left coast environmental theme.
It better be Robotech not Macross. I never liked the truely Japanese storyline about Protoculture actually being culture. The energy story in Robotech was more rational.
agreed, I like the Robotech story better and i hope they make enough movies to link it all together like the series did, including the the extent of the story plus more. fine for the first movie to just cover events in the first part but I’ll be bummed out if they never get to the Invid part of the story. preferably they’ll cover stuff from the robotech book series as well, that’s where the story all falls together and really makes sense.
I agree that it would be awesome if they based it off the books, but other than for certain details, they aren’t consider as part of the core-continuity by Harmony Gold. It was like the opposite of how it works today. They adapted the books from the show, but like any other adaptation, the writers added their own details to the story. So, that makes it non-canon. Granted, since the movie would very likely be considered non-canon to the Original story also, then there could be a good chance that they might use stuff from the books.
this will never happen, harmony gold does not have the rights to the macross characters, the ONLY thing they could make live action is a mospeada film, and that is not what will sell. people want a macross movie, and it can’t happen until harmony gold is dead. that is why warner bros. gave up the rights in the first place
I myself am excited as a 44 yr old can be. It will not be cannon IE nothing even close to the TV Series. Impossible, to tell the first generation series within 2hrs. Impossible, Let alone squeeze the 3 distinct generations into 1 blah movie.
So it will be either a rush to a certain couple episodes, like the begining on how we got it, or jump directly to one of the Major battles. Will probably be something to the Transformers type. Assume you know up to a certain point. But with Robotech.. Being 84 episodes that ran in order. It was addictive to watch each and every one, in Order, time after time after time. So, even to skip to the New Generation would make sense tech wise, not having to have many actors to focus on. Unless you know the 2 other series, the title people, will be clueless.
I hope whoever is making this, doesnt F it up.
I agree. I am 48 and loved the series when it was on TV. Please, Sony……do not F it up!
This is wrong. Harmony Gold is stealing from the creators of the three different Japanese series that Robotech came from. If anything this movie should be a Macross movie, not Robotech.
I hope the companies that owns these original series challenge Harmony Gold in court and hopefully cause them to lose the license once and for all.
problem with most of these big productions is at the core is a corporate money minded machine that considers movies to be just the commercial for their merchandise which makes many times the profit that the films do these days. you’re guaranteed the film will look flash and full of spectacle but have the depth of a TV commercial. they don’t like betting on how long it takes kids to get bored with non-action scenes so we just don’t see deep big budget flicks anymore, mostly.
Please Sony do not screw this one up….please don’t.
At least Be true to the harmony golds series plot.
Won’t happen “true to the plot” since Harmony Gold lost the lawsuits giving them the rights to re-use elements from Macross. It’s a legal minefield.
Literally the dumbest most old fashioned concept possible: our technology can fight aliens that can get to earth but our tech can’t get to their planet, right? Dumb dumb dumb
It’s actually not our technology, it’s theirs. Also, the tech we more of less steal from them, which we’re using, can get to their planet. I assume you’ve never seen the series yeah?
So true. In the series, we capture a crashed alien craft, and retrofit that for humans just in time to be invaded. So humans have this single high-tech ship…on which most of the tech doesn’t work properly due to our limited knowledge.
Sad not to see Carl Macek mentioned he was the one who turned three shows that had nothing to do with each other into the “Robotech” mythology.
Here’s hoping Michael Bay directs this. :)
/trolling
You kid, but sadly, I think it would be a box office hit, even if it caused viewers to lose IQ points just by watching the trailer. ;-)
There is no Robotech, only Macross. If any movies are made with the Robotech moniker, I will not watch them. Call me elitist, but this is bloody 2015, not 1980. We don’t need to be protected from the original Japanese materials and have it Americanized. Not that I think they can successfully compress down the original Macross into anything less than three movies.
But hey, studio execs have no clue. “Anime and manga are cool, so lets do something with it ’cause reasons, but only if we tinker with it to death.”
I don’t know. If this turns out to be a certified hit, you’ll check it out. I felt the same way about X-Men First Class. I swore up and down that I would not go see it. It turned out to be pretty good though. So I wouldn’t go swearing off this movie just yet.
On the contrary, they’re banking on the familiarity of the name “Robotech” to a Western audience. There are a lot of fans who grew up watching that show who have never seen the original anime; certainly it makes more sense to market under an established property name than to cater to a smaller niche of fandom.
And from what I remember, other than character names and the inclusion of the Protoculture/Masters backstory, aren’t the two storylines inherently the same?
To me, Robotech grabs the niche market of middle-age guys who watched this as a kid or a teen. Does it have much appeal beyond that? I know there has been all kinds of efforts to make Robotech something (attempts at animated sequels, movies, etc.), and the people behind that are heavily invested (and no doubt believe in) this effort. But amongst genre fandom, I don’t see a real big demand for Robotech. I see more of a demand for the Macross franchise.
Since Robotech came out in the mid-80s, the Macross franchise has marched on, and although none of this was licensed (and butchered) in America, the next generation of folks weren’t watching Robotech. They were watching titles like Macross Plus, Macross 7, Macross Zero, and then Macross Frontier. From that, they might work their way back to Macross to get the origin story, not Robotech.
As to the story differences, I couldn’t say what all was changed and edited other than what you mentioned as well as taking three unrelated anime titles and rewriting them so that they are Robotech. I vaguely remember watching Robotech as a teenager. I know I didn’t make it past the Macross part of Robotech because of the complete change in the story. I did decide to watch Macross in 2004 because I knew it was the start of Robotech, and AnimEigo lost their license to distribute the original, so I bought the DVD box sets. After I watched it, I never had a desire to see anything Robotech again. But that’s just me.
certainly couldn’t be done in 1 movie. you might be able to do it in 2 with Ep Force of arms ending movie 1.
There’s no way a Macross movie could be properly done in a single movie. I felt the anime movie “Super Dimensional Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love” cut way too much, leaving it without much in the way of heart. In order to get proper character development and story development, I’m thinking three movies might be needed.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Get as much of the original cast together to help you with this as possible!!!!! Richard Epcar, Ellyn Stern, Tony Oliver, Melanie Macqueen, and Rebecca Forstadt are absolute MUSTS!!!!!!!!!!!!
They were just voice actors and they’re all 30 years older now, if they’re even still around. What would you have them DO? They had no input in the writing or characterizations. If SONY hires actual stars to play the Robotech characters, those stars would, of course, do their own voices.
Studio Nue… Harmony Gold… And SONY is the GLUE…
Put it together guys! East Meets West in Macross/Robotech!
The visual film rights for Macross are still held by Studio Nue in Japan and they won’t release them (they haven’t for ANY previous attempt at doing this because they hate Harmony Gold and Robotech as a branding of Macross) So it’s not gonna look like Robotech. Talent level of the previous projects doesn’t bode well for a 36 epsisode epic to be boiled down to 2-6 hours. So its not gonna feel like Robotech. Its not gonna be Robotech. This will be terrible.
I hope that’s the case, 100%, and that Studio Nue puts the hammer down. No disrespect to Carl Macek, he did a good job putting Robotech together. But If Harmony Gold really believe in Robotech, then it’s time to move on and create new content/mechs/techs/characters for future viewers. I say leave the old SDF/Mospeda/Southern Cross stuff, and evolve to come up with newer tech and characters; I can’t say it enough. I don’t wish bad thoughts or anything negative about Harmony Gold, but they just need to move on update their contents … which they should have done a long time ago.
Unfortunately what anime fans really want to hear is that they will be releasing the original series that is macross instead of continuing with the hacked up edited version. but with this news, the chances of any of the macross series being legaly released in the US (no thanks to those money hunger at Harmony Gold) is now slim to none. even to this day US companies like Sony that arent completely involed in the anime industry like Viz Media or Funimation is still treating anime in general like if its still foreign to the US auidence like if were still in the 80’s and 90’s and have to be completely different aka americanized from the Japaneese version.
Actually I had no issues with the dub really. I was able to see it as an entirely different series, and lemme tell ya, taken that way, it’s great. But to each their own. I would love to see original macross though.
I have the original series on DVD released in the US. It’s a macross box and is the original cut of the show. I also have Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada in their original versions which were released in the states. It’s been done.
I still need to watch Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada. I’ve been meaning to do that for years now. I’ve just got to make the time.
I have a feeling that this will be to Sony as “Pacific Rim” and “Edge of Tomorrow” are to Legendary and Warner Bros., rather than another “Speed Racer”/”Dragonball Evolution”/”Astro Boy”-sized flop. In other words, I feel that it will be both critically acclaimed and a box-office hit overseas.
Also, since this is Sony, I wonder if it’ll be partially comedic, like “Ghostbusters” or “Men in Black”. After all, it would be interesting to see a Sony-produced action comedy franchise about guys piloting giant robots instead of exterminating ghosts or capturing aliens.
But there is no demand for Robotech outside of UK/US and maybe Latin America. This is different from Pacific Rim and Edge of Tomorrow because, like “Speed Racer”/”Dragonball Evolution”/”Astro Boy,” Robotech is a bastardization of Macross, which is a very very beloved and ongoing franchise. Branding this as Robotech won’t get international release and Harmony Gold can’t brand it as Macross outside of UK/US/Latin America, nor can it use the original robots from Macross saga of Robotech.
So what we can expect is a bunch of muddled mess that fails to achieve anything but angering Macross fans world wide (yet again) with Harmony Gold’s (yet another) attempt at trying to milk an intellectual property they’re bullying people from doing anything with on dubious legal grounds.
Awesome!!!! Waiting for this for a long time!!!