It’s been over 5 years and it finally looks like a live action version of ‘Robotech’ will finally get made as Nic Mathieu has been announced the director for this ambitious film.

While the project has undergone numerous screenwriters to write a script good enough to film, this is the first time that a director has been attached to the movie.  ‘Robotech’ will be Mathieu’s first foray into features but looking at his extensive work in commercials, it looks like he may be a good choice. Most of his work use a lot of CG effects which, obviously, will come quite handy with this project.

If you recall, back in 2007, Warner Bros. picked up the rights to the Japanese anime classic with Tobey Maguire to produce through his production company Maguire Entertainment. This was set up as a tentpole film with Maguire eyeing the lead role. Not much progress has been made since then so it’s exciting to hear that ‘Robotech’ is moving forward.

The project may have Guillermo del Toro to thank for this. With ‘Pacific Rim’ getting extremely exciting buzz months before its release, Warner Bros. have seen that a movie involving giant robots does have box office potential.

US audiences were introduced to ‘Robotech’ in the 1980’s as an animated series which was based on three differnet Japanese mecha animation series: ‘The Super Dimension Fortress Macross,’ ‘Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, ‘  and ‘Genesis Climber Mospeada.’

The live action version is being described as “a sprawling sci-fi epic and takes place during a time when humans have engineered giant mechas from an alien spacecraft that crash landed on the planet. When alien invaders threaten Earth, mankind is forced to use this technology to fend off the successive waves of alien invasions. It a battle against giant warriors who seek to retrieve an energy source known as “protoculture” and the planet’s survival ends up in the hands of two young pilots.

With the words “successive waves of alien invasions,” it can already be surmised that Warner Bros. hopes to make ‘Robotech’ a franchise property.

Hopefully, now that a helmer has been named, it won’t be long before casting begins! Now if only Relativity can get ‘Voltron’ to start moving….