Monday, September 10, 2007

Wow! What Swany asks for...

September 7, 2007 - Tobey Maguire may be swapping his Spidey suit to climb inside a giant robot. Casting more doubt on Maguire's future involvement in the continuing Spider-Man film franchise, it's been announced that the actor is producing and may be taking a leading role in Robotech, a live-action flick based on the popular anime series from the 1980s.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. Pictures acquired the rights to the property after a lengthy negotiation, and Maguire will reportedly produce the adaptation under his Maguire Entertainment banner.

"We are very excited to bring Robotech to the big screen," Maguire told THR. "There is a rich mythology that will be a great foundation for a sophisticated, smart and entertaining film."

There's no director attached to the project, but the script is set to be penned by Craig Zahler. Zahler is best known in industry circles for penning a well-received, but as-yet-unproduced script, The Brigands of Rattleborge -- a dark, violent Western picked up by Vertigo Entertainment.

Warner Bros. is envisioning Robotech as a high-profile summer blockbuster.

THR calls the film a "sprawling sci-fi epic," and reveals that it takes place at a time when Earth has developed giant robots from the technology on an alien spacecraft that crashed on a South Pacific isle. Mankind is forced to use the technology to fend off three successive waves of alien invasions. The first invasion concerns a battle with a race of giant warriors who seek to retrieve their flagship's energy source known as "protoculture," and the planet's survival ends up in the hands of two young pilots. Maguire would presumably play one of the pilots.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Swany,

I find this story line of Maguire producing it and there not being a director yet to similar plot lines from the Entourage series. Is it just me or do you see the same thing?

Swany said...

I'm not sure I quite see Tobey Maguire as Rick Hunter, but I've seen stranger things work on the big screen. I'll be interested to see to the rest of the cast shapes up, and whether Max Sterling will show up with blue hair. But what am I nitpicking about? It's Robotech on the big screen! WOOHOO!

As far as this being reminiscent of Entourage, I can see it, except Tobey Maguire reminds me more of E than Vinnie Chase.