Producer Gale Anne Hurd has been connected to many films over the course of her career like ‘Aliens’, ‘Armageddon’, and the ‘Terminator’ franchise, but recently she’s been known for her work on AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’. However, after mostly spending her time on the small screen since 2008, she’s getting back into films with a fairly high-profile project titled ‘Gaiking’, a live-action adaptation based on the Japanese anime and popular toy line from the late ’70s known as ‘Shogun Warriors’ in the US. With other giant robot movies like ‘Voltron’ and ‘Pacific Rim’ in the pipeline already, Hurd’s Valhalla Entertainment, along with Toei Animation and Al Nippon Entertainment, are looking to contribute to the genre while it’s heating up.

When we last heard about this project back in December, all we knew was the information from the press release that basically said that the film is happening. Now, in an interview with Collider, Hurd gives us a status report on ‘Gaiking’ and shares that they’re not worried about being first or second in getting their giant robot movie out in theaters. Check out an excerpt from the interview below:

C: I’m incredibly excited for ‘Gaiking’. I grew up with that, can you tell people what the status of that is right now?

Hurd: Sure, we just closed the deal and we are reaching out to writers as we speak.

C: Are you aiming to make it look or feel like something that’s been done?  Can you talk about what your ideas are for the film?

Hurd: It’s early on, I’d hate to do that before the writers have an opportunity to look at the material and sit down with me.  I don’t think we want it to look like something you’ve already seen on screen before.  As you know, if you know Gaiking, it’s really the character driven part of it that’s so compelling to all of us.

C: Sure, I guess my question is, is there like a timeframe of where you guys are hoping to be in a year?

Hurd: No, it’s more important to get the right writer and the right take than it is to do something in a particular timeframe.

C: I definitely want to ask, Warner Brothers recently announced that ‘Robotech’ is in development.  In the 70’s and 80’s there were a lot of robots that hit animation, I’m a fan of everything, is there any competition between ‘Robotech’, ‘Voltron’, and ‘Gaiking’, trying to make sure you’re first?

Hurd: No, I’ve been first and second.  I did ‘Armageddon’, there was also ‘Deep Impact’ and we ended up being the most successful movie at the box office that year in the world even though we were second.  I also did ‘Dante’s Peak’.  There were three underwater films released when we made ‘The Abyss’.  I think the most important thing is to make the best film you can.

C: I completely agree with you.  It’s something I’m really looking forward to.  Have you guys looked at what special effects can do now, after ‘Iron Man’ and things like that, are you sort of looking at well this is really possible to make this photo-real now?

Hurd: Oh, absolutely.  You don’t want people to look at something and think that was a fantastic special effect.  Visual effects now you really feel as if you can reach out and touch, whether it’s a creature’s face or a machine.

Hurd goes on to say that all parties involved have selected a number of writers that they hope to reach out to about penning the script. By the sounds of it, the producer isn’t looking to quickly get this film in theaters just to bank on the trend, but rather wants to do it right, be faithful to the source material and make the fans happy. It’s a refreshing approach considering that the film market is often saturated with cheap knockoffs of a winning idea.

Head over to Collider to read the whole interview with Gale Anne Hurd, who talks about her current show, ‘The Walking Dead’, her new show, ‘Horizon’, and much more.

Are you excited for ‘Gaiking’ to hit theaters? Do you think it’ll stand a chance after movies like ‘Pacific Rim’ and ‘Voltron’ get out there? Share your thoughts in the comments below!