It was around this time last year that we first heard rumblings of a possible Robotech movie. At the time Tobey Maguire’s production company was supposed to be doing something with it. What exactly their plans were, never became clear. Now though Lawrence Kasdan, writer of Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the guy who it seems was single handedly responsible for making George Lucas look really good in the 80s, is running around telling anyone who will listen that he’s writing Robotech.
It looks like the project is still with Tobey Maguire’s production company, and according to HR, Maguire will be producing the adaptation for Warner Bros., along with folks like Drew Crevello, Akiva Goldsman, and Chuck Roven.
The success of Transformers has helped get buzz for a lot of projects like this, anything involving robots that is, but this is the first one that actually seems to be going anywhere fast. Like Transformers Robotech originated in Japan and appeared in the United States during the 80s as a cartoon series. While it had niche fans, it never achieved the same kind of success. The concept is of a distant future where man fights his wars from inside giant, powered, robotic suits. It’s a lot like Voltron or MechWarrior, only in this humble writers opinion, not nearly as good. Give me a MadCat over one of these flimsy Robotech power suits any day.
The movie has a lot of epic sci-fi potential though, and the Robotech universe is rich with complexity and story just waiting for some great Hollywood writer (hello Lawrence Kasdan) to latch on to. Kasdan hasn’t written anything worth noticing since Wyatt Earp back in 1994, and a return to fantasy and science fiction could be just what the guy needs for a return to form. Welcome back Kasdan, science fiction has missed you.
