ROBOTECH movie gets a new director, writer and (rough) time schedule

Sony are continuing to develop their long-gestating Robotech film project, based on the 1980s American animated TV series (based, in turn, on three Japanese anime series edited together into a single narrative). They now have a director and a writer for the film.

James Wan has withdrawn as director, to be replaced by hotter-than-sun Andy Muschietti, the director of the two-part movie version of Stephen King's IT, the first half of which was released last year to critical acclaim. Muschietti is currently working on IT Part II, which will be released on 6 September 2019. Muschietti will begin work on Robotech in earnest once IT Part II wraps post-production, which probably won't be until mid-2019 at the earliest.

Jason Fuchs has also been attached to the Robotech project as writer. He's thrown out the scripts developed over several previous years and is now working on a fresh take. Fuchs is also in demand following his credit as a co-writer on last year's Wonder Woman. However, his other scripts (Ice Age 3 and Pan) have been less well-received.

Assuming this project moves forward - which seems more likely now a firmer directorial deal seems in place (Wan's deal apparently foundered over DC's inability to confirm a timescale for his Aquaman project, although that is now shooting) - it'll probably be 2021 or 2022 before we see the film on the screen. There also remains a major issue in that Harmony Gold (the creators of Robotech) are in dispute with Studio Nue and Big West (the creators of the Macross anime, which is the primary source for the Robotech story and animation) over international distribution rights for the Macross series, sequels and prequels in the United States and Europe. As a result of this dispute, Studio Nue have refused to licence the original Macross mecha designs to Harmony Gold or (as far as is known) Sony. This means that if the Robotech film moves forward, it will not be able to use any of the mecha, starship or vehicle designs from the original Robotech series, This will not go down well with fans eager to see the Veritech fighters from their childhood in action on-screen.

Still, interesting to see how this project develops as it goes forward. The basic Robotech/Macross premise is incredibly strong: an alien starship crash lands on Earth just before a nascent World War III is about to go nuclear. The world's superpowers band together in the face of this greater threat and reverse-engineer the starship and its technology. A decade later, the alien owners of the ship (or, more accurately, their genetically-engineered slave-soldiers) show up to reclaim it and all hell breaks loose.