Generation Mech » Movies

Voltron Movie: To make or not to make?

admin — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 05:13:01 +0000

Voltron.

Coming to a cinemas near you or not? That’s what some speculators from Variety are spelling when WEP were more interested in making the iconic series into TV format rather than its live-action film counterpart. But then a few days later, another source came up saying “Hang on a sec. We’ll scrap that scrapped idea with Voltron movie. We’ll planning to do it anyway?”

That’s very annoying after hearing for several months of hype for this. So why don’t we find out it’s true or from the this MTV interview with WEP’s thoughts for the blockbuster film.

MTV NEWS: So, right at the start, let’s clear up any confusion regarding the live-action “Voltron” movie. Where is it at, and what do you have planned?

TED KOPLAR: Well, Voltron is one of the great iconic brands from the ’80s, and a lot of people don’t know this but in its heyday it outperformed The Transformers. … We’ve had a lot of interest over the last couple of years in bringing back this franchise, and the movie has always been and still is the locomotive that’s driving our thinking. All this serves as a staging platform for the motion picture.

RICHARD SUCKLE: As a matter of fact, we’ve been working over the last several months meeting with various screenwriters, and we’re actually on the cusp of securing an A-level screenwriter who’s going to write the “Voltron” movie. That’s all part of the plan here: reintroducing the brand to the fans who’ve watched over the last 25 years and to a new generation. We are very close to securing a screenwriter who’s going to actually write the feature version — so that’s always been part of the plan.

MTV: This project has been in development for a long time now, with some starts and stops along the way. What have the difficulties been in bringing it to the big screen? Have there been some stumbling blocks, or a certain element of the project that you’ve really been taking your time with?

KOPLAR: The story’s been the critical part — that we come in with the right message for both the new generation and for the old generation. We’ve had some takes, but I think we’re getting close.

SUCKLE: In any situation when you have a famous piece of intellectual property, there’s always a responsibility and an expectation, but I don’t think there’s ever been a real stumbling block.

MTV: Well, there’s been some earlier drafts of the script, including one from Justin Marks that I know of. You mentioned that you’re bringing on a new screenwriter, so are you starting from scratch or building on an existing script?

SUCKLE: We are [starting from scratch]. As far as Atlas Entertainment, we’ve never been involved in any of the previous versions, so I can’t speak to them. We came in and said we want to talk about the property and build it from the ground up, because we have a particular way we want to approach it.

MTV: Can you tell me a little about that approach? Are you envisioning a big-budget, effects-driven blockbuster? 3-D, maybe? What’s your vision for the film?

SUCKLE: Those are all things we’ve talked about, but as much as it has a very strong robot element, this is a movie and a franchise that is driven by characters — these five people that in some or another are a representation of all of us. It’s really about how you have five different personalities working together in order to come together to form Voltron.

KOPLAR: The whole show is about teamwork — about a group of kids with various backgrounds who learn that the only way they’ll succeed is through the positive parts of each one’s background and bringing it together to make the robot work.

SUCKLE: It’s not like we’re doing anything far different from the source material other than to make it a character-driven film. The effects, the 3-D… The eye candy is the easy part. It’s got to be a movie that has really dynamic, interesting characters and a really strong narrative. You know the eye candy is going to be there, because it’s part of the fabric of the original material.

So that character-driven element is really what we’re focusing on, and that’s what the writers that we’ve been talking to have been told about what we want and what we’re looking for.

MTV: Do you have a timeline in mind for the live-action film? Are there certain marks you want to hit in the roll-out of the “Voltron” universe?

SUCKLE: You never can tell, but I think that if we’re lucky going into 2011, and in a perfect world, if we could have a “Voltron” movie sometime in the summer of 2013, that would be what I would consider a very likely timeline.

MTV: There’s mention of the new animated series receiving an “edgier” update, but what about the film?

SUCKLE: To me, you have to update it and give it a fresh coat of paint for 2010-2011 and beyond. At the same time, it’s important to have those certain nostalgic elements. It’s not that we have to hit those moments over the head, but there should be stuff within the visuals — if not also in the dialogue and the references — that make those people who grew up watching the show feel like we are taking great care to both satisfy you and introduce new stuff that feels like it lives organically in the 25 years Voltron has existed.

MTV: You said you’re about to name a new writer, but what about a director? How close are you?

SUCKLE: We’ve had a lot of inquiries, because there are a lot of fans who grew up with the show and see the potential like we do, but it would be premature for me to name any names.

MTV: Will there be any crossover between the animated series and the live-action film?

KOPLAR: Our hope is that the group of people we have are open to everybody sharing ideas, thoughts, whatever it is.

SUCKLE: It’s important that all these pieces are working together, because it is a specific plan that we want to realize. The cartoon, the new show, the Mattel deal — they’re just sort of springboards to ultimately what will be the feature. It’s always been about driving the feature.

KOPLAR: All these component parts are going to come together like Voltron.

So now we’ve been confirmed that the TV series remake and live-action movie works are in place, along with the host toy merchandise going about in place, we should be seeing more and more these developments coming into the horizon at a closer time. One would hope so!

Cause I would hate to see things just dropped out of the air like that, if nothing’s working out as it should be.

Source: Variety.com, SplashPage, Craveonline

Transformers 3’s new actress found

admin — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 08:50:08 +0000

Well. Well.

Looks like I was wrong with Heidi Montag after all. Thanks for the rumours that spread across the internet about her so-called audition.

I suspected the video link she personally worked on wasn’t really ’star-quality material’. The more I look at her taped audition closely, the more I realised how stupid I was to think someone of that kind of personality would ever want to take up Megan Fox’ replacement for upcoming Michael Bay’s project ‘Transformers 3′.

Instead, (now it’s officially confirmed) we have a hot runway fashion model from Victoria Secret that’s pitched in to be better contender for the Sam Witwicky’s new girlfriend. After finding out a little bit about her profile and looking at the picture below, it’s easy to see why she’s best picked out of the the other contenders.

Megan Fox's replacement

Her name is Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. A young English model at the age of 23, whose career success always been in the fashion business, was a deemed as the ‘new Kate Moss’ as some people say. And for a young girl to work for many best-selling cover magazines like Vogue, it would be hard for Michael Bay to turn down such a pretty-faced girl to audition for such action-hyped film.

So congratulations to her!

Here’s the congratulatory footage (done by Victoria Secret) of her accepting the role in Transformers 3!^^

Source: The Independent

More exciting super robot shows coming out this year

admin — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 04:14:18 +0000

With my recent posts on Facebook fan page, we’re seeming to be getting more and more awesome super robot shows from the past, being resurrected into new format in all kinds of entertainment.

For new blood of mecha fan generations to enjoy!

With Transformers 3 in the works by July, Mazinkaizer ready for its official public OVA release date to be announced, Gaiking’s giving us an impressive entrance in this trailer video, it seems like everything’s set into motion for super robot genres.

It’s like we’re truly facing a reality. We’re actually starting to witness the return of these old classic robot shows that many fans I’ve heard for the past couple of years always says this sentence whenever they think about these old shows.

“BRING THEM BACK!“, they yelled.

And I agreed. Now that they’re getting what they ask for, I also become a believer of this nostagic group.^^

With these new robots we’re anticipating to see this year, I’m going to ask everybody in the community what other shows are you all keen to see them coming back?

What favourite shows you saw in the 70s, 80s, and 90s do you want today’s modern age TV/movie/toy producers to direct and produce? New Voltron TV shows? New Transformers toys lineup? A Mazinger live-action movie with American actors to watch (what?? American actors? Now that’s weird….) Gundam heroes to pick.

What do you think? Have your say in the comments below.

We probably need a poll for this type of question.

It will be placed on our fan page.

Transformer 3 to begin production in July

admin — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 10:24:06 +0000

Transformers 3 movie are ready to get into works as I read from this news feed from TFormers.com is going to happen in July, so says Michael Bay. They start the works by July 4, USA’s public holiday for Independence day.

The shooting will start various locations in Chicago along with Moscow, where they will carry out action sequences that will be bigger and louder than the two previous Transformers films.

Here’s another interesting scoop, rumours come as a new Autobot will be introduced as Ferrari! Hmm… I wonder which Autobot character should play for Ferrari disguise? Wheeljack, Afterburner? Possibilities are simply endless!!^^

Many of the Hollywood actors are return to the screen for the third time. So, as expected, Shia Lebouff and Megan Fox are certainly joining the filming party, reprising their roles Sam Witwicky and Mikaela respectively.

To read more, check it out here.

Source: ReelChicago.com

Aniplex plans to sell Gurren Lagann DVDs in July

admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 08:12:50 +0000

Gurren Laggan selling like hot cakes!

More Gurren Lagann DVDs will be sold in the USA as announced by Aniplex.

Two official titles, Gurren Lagann the movie – The Child’s end and Gurren Lagann the movie – The Lights in the Sky are Stars released in the USA, on 1st July and 31st July, respectively. They are exclusively ordered via Bandai Entertainment online store.

Currently, they’re selling at $50.00. But you can get discount of USD $6-$10 if you pre-order them now before May or July. In these packages, they come as limited editions that comes with bonus disc of 32-page reproduction of the movie program from Japanese theaters, along with the music videos of Gurren Lagann Parallel Works 2 Project!

Hmm… Sounds not bad for a bargain.

What do you think? Would you go online and purchase these online before July, if you are a complete Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann fan?

Source: Animenewsnetwork.com, Bandai Entertainment

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam Movie Trilogy Sets for June Release

admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 03:10:13 +0000

Just catching up with this.

Bandai has plans to schedule Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam trilogy film in June 2010. The tiltle of the film is Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation.

It is said that to be the compilation of the show’s orginal TV series along with the majority of orginal cast to used in the film.

So keep this note into your diary for June this year.

And here’s a music video that you may want to take a glimpse of (and enjoy the music if you like some old school Japanese mech music like me :) )

Enjoy!

Source: Animenewsnetwork.com, Youtube.com

New Gaiking Movie (Teaser Trailer) out now!

admin — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 03:40:18 +0000

Sorry for no posts for the past couple of weeks.

You probably got my last twits mentioning I was waffling through mountains of paperwork I need to do for my travel visa to find work in Australia. Their visa requirements are horribly insane!! Just seem more bureaucratic cr$p to me! And it’s still aint over. Sigh…..

Anywho, had enough of my own personal cirumstances, I’m posting on the new Gaiking movie trailer that’s just been released. Here’s the video below.

Thanks to everyone’s contribution on my Facebook fan page, many concluded rumours that it’s set to released in 2012 for Europe, 2011 for USA and 2010 for Japan. (Oh wait…. The last makes more sense. Needs no intro. D’uh!)

Whatever the case it may be, this is one of the next best giant robot shows that’s highly anticipated to arrive at the big screens!! Here’s another link for those who’s interested to know why and how this project got started and what’s in it for the producers.

What do you think guys? Are you all excited or what??

Source: GeekTyrant.com

Dreamworks looking to hire

admin — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 09:15:43 +0000

Speaking of Transformers, Heard that Dreamworks are setting their sights for making Transformers 3 a reality on the 21s July 2011 and they’re keen to hire more people on board to get the ball rolling!

Rumours been circling around that they’re going to pay $200 a day for someone’s time to be part of the movie set. Isn’t that a great part of the deal of what?!? So for those who are living in Los Angeles City and you’re a die hard Transformers fan, what are you waiting for???

Go for it!!!!

Source: Tformers.com

Kill Bill’s student villain: Starting her singing classes?!?

admin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:05:58 +0000

Now that Gundam UC is happening underway, there’s this one little surprise I uncovered lately. But I couldn’t seem to put a finger on it….

Does anybody remember this actress?

Recognise the skirts? The socks? The Japanese uniform? And the swinging metallic ball with razor-shapped blades stickin out??!?!

Boy, she was nasty for Uma Thurman’s nemesis!

And 7 years later, here we have her performing as a singing actress for the recent Gundam Unicorn movie and she’s singing its openining theme,

Check out her videos below! (her music video vs the movie trailer)

Source: LA Weekly

Gundam Unicorn in Taiwan

admin — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 06:40:26 +0000

Image sourced from My Cartoon.com.my

Now that it’s done in Hong Kong… We now have one in Taiwan!

That’s what my little birdie told me after it showed me this link from Sunrise.

Tracing back to the Taiwan’s link, it’s said the Gundam Unicorn’s release is on 6th March 2010! Not only that they will be a massive nation-wide sales of Blue Ray/DVDs on the market for this 12 year-old franchise. It’s available in Mandarin languages as well. (Huh, go figure. :) )

According to the Taiwan’s site, they originally had plans for its advance screening, supposedly held on 26th Feb 2010. However, it’s been revised and extended till the first week of March so many Taiwanese fans will get the better spectacle of fun on that day such lucky draws to get into its promotional DVDs stand, special booking and toy collection, etc, etc

For more latest, check out their pages.^^

Source: Sunrise Anime, My Cartoon.com.tw