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Voltron's Live-Action Film Plans Rebooted

Corona Coming Attractions reports that both of the scripts written for the Voltron live-action movie have been scrapped, putting the movie's production in "reboot" mode. Both Justin Marks' script and Jeff Davis' rewrite will not be used for shooting the movie. In addition, Max Makowski will no longer be directing the project.

In July, Atlas Entertainment's Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, and Steve Alexander acquired the live-action film rights to the Voltron animated series from World Event Productions (WEP) with Kickstart Entertainment's Jason Netter. WEP is, however, still working closely with Atlas Entertainment on the movie.

WEP adapted the 1984-1985 television series from two Toei Animation robot anime: King of Beasts Golion (pictured at right) and Armored Fleet Dairugger XV. Both Golion and the first Voltron story centered on young pilots who fight against an empire of alien conquerors — with the help of five mechanized lions that combine to form a robot.

It was also revealed that the new working title on the recently announced Voltron animated series to air on Nicktoons is Voltron Force. WEP is also hoping to release a major-platform Voltron video game, and a Voltron OVA in the style of The Animatrix and Batman: Gotham Knight is currently being discussed.

New Regency, a 20th Century Fox-based production company, once negotiated with WEP and the Mark Gordon Company for the live-action Voltron rights in 2007. However, New Regency never actually signed a deal, and other companies were allowed to negotiate for the rights. WEP said in a 2008 lawsuit that New Regency discovered that former Toei character designer Kazuo Nakamura "may possess rights" related to Golion and thus the first Voltron series.

Sylvain White (The Losers, Stomp the Yard) told the IESB.net website at WonderCon this past weekend that he has been approached to direct the live-action Robotech movie. White did not confirm whether or not he would be directing the movie, but did say he was interested in doing it. White also added that he had been sent a script and liked it, but said that the project has not yet been green-lit.

Robotech was Harmony Gold's edited and rewritten adaptation of three separate anime science-fiction series: The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, The Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber Mospeada. White indicated that the script he saw was "the first generation" storyline, but he did not directly state it was based on Macross. The producers have yet to announce how they will deal with the copyright dispute between Harmony Gold's partner Tatsunoko Production and the creators of Macross (the most popular of the three anime).

Sources: Corona Coming Attractions via ICv2, IESB via Latino Review

Image © World Events Productions, © Toei