Christopher McQuarrie to take on Star Blazers

[terry78]

http://www.deadline.com/2013/10/chr...rs-from-70s-sci-fi-anime-series-for-skydance/


I am ready.

 

[Still Wynning]

If done right, this definitely has the potential to be great, if not one of the greatest space epics ever put to screen.

I just hope they don't rush the story. Make it a trilogy or a quadrilogy. Hell, make it a 5-7 film series if they have to.

 

[Tequilla]

Lol star blazers. I actually had to google that.

Space Battleship Yamato.

Like McQuarrie . Enormous potential.

 

[Loki882]

I'm not terribly familiar with this series either, but I've done some reading and it sounds really interesting. If done well, it should be epic in every sense of the word. Hopefully this project actually gets made, unlike other anime adaptations that have been announced and then fallen into development Hell.

 

[Still Wynning]

I'm not terribly familiar with this series either, but I've done some reading and it sounds really interesting. If done well, it should be epic in every sense of the word. Hopefully this project actually gets made, unlike other anime adaptations that have been announced and then fallen into development Hell.

I can think of a few reasons why this film adaptation could probably work:

-Considering that it doesn't contain a lot of the cliches/tropes found in most of the more recent anime, it would probably very easy to adapt into live action.

-Unlike a lot of those other projects, this is actually the most feasible to make in a live-action film, if you take into account films like Star Trek/Star Trek: Into Darkness and the most recent Ender's Game coming out soon.

-Taking the last point into account, if Ender's Game does really well at the box office, then it could pave the way for other space film franchises like Star Blazers. Not to mention that there's a new Star Wars film coming out within the next couple years or so. Hollywood usually goes along with what's popular at the time, so if what I think is true, then we'll probably be seeing a lot more sci-fi/space fantasy type films in the coming future.

 

[Loki882]

True, but Ghost in the Shell and Battle Angel Alita would also fit those parameters, and they had Steven Spielberg (GITS) and James Cameron (BAA) attached. Despite this, neither one is even close to happening.

 

[Still Wynning]

True, but Ghost in the Shell and Battle Angel Alita would also fit those parameters, and they had Steven Spielberg (GITS) and James Cameron (BAA) attached. Despite this, neither one is even close to happening.

The thing with Star Blazers is that even though it's an untested property, it has enough in common with a lot of big, space films that it wouldn't have a problem finding an audience. And there's not really anything mature or graphic that would need to be changed or removed in order to cater to a large audience. It's pretty much good as is. The only issue would be adapting the content to film without rushing through or skipping important parts of the story.

Ghost in the Shell, however, is an entirely different matter altogether. Not only would it have to be really, really expensive to pull off a lot of the stuff that happens in the manga (a lot of the tech and cyberspace stuff), it also contains a lot of content you wouldn't be able to show unless it's R-rated (it can get pretty violent, not to mention some of the slight sexual, lesbian undertones with The Major). And taking Hollywood's mindset into account, expensive R-rated films are a no-no (sad, but true). By making it PG-13, you would have to remove a bunch of content that makes it what it is and give's it its edge. Not to mention the race issues, considering that it takes place in Japan with Japanese characters. If you whitewashed those suckers and placed them in America, people would probably cry foul.

It's pretty much one of those properties that you would have to get just right. Sadly, the climate in Hollywood just isn't right for a film like Ghost in the Shell. Unless something really drastic happens that allows a film like that to become mainstream, I don't see it happening anytime soon.

As for the latter, well... I'd like to think of the Avatar series as just one giant, expensive tech demo to prep for Battle Angel.

 

[Loki882]

Which is really stupid considering that there are already two really successful and popular GITS-like films, they're called Blade Runner and The Matrix. Also, just to be accurate, the Major is actually bisexual.

 

[JackMercy]

Japan just made their own live-action version in 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAHUKuiqQ4Q

It's...um...out there.

 

[Still Wynning]

Which is really stupid considering that there are already two really successful and popular GITS-like films, they're called Blade Runner and The Matrix.

The thing with those two films, though, even though they all have some similarities to Ghost in the Shell, they still don't have a lot of the bells and whistles GitS has, because they were made for a smaller budget. (If you take inflation into account, Blade Runner was made for around $67 million, and The Matrix around $88 million).

If a film adaptation were to be made to accurately reflect the Ghost in the Shell's source material, it would need to be made for nearly the cost of three The Matrix films or two Blade Runner films.

Unless they got someone like Neill Blomkamp (which would be awesome), who really knows how to stretch the dollar with his films, I just can't see it happening.

Also, just to be accurate, the Major is actually bisexual.

Well, I knew it was one of those. t:

 

[Loki882]

Japan just made their own live-action version in 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAHUKuiqQ4Q

It's...um...out there.

That version was, ok. It also doesn't mean that this version couldn't be awesome as well.

 

[Octoberist]

The 2010 live action movie was silly despite the tone they were going for. You can tell the Japanese industry doesnt have the budget for this sort of live action genre films hence their strengths are in anime.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

I found the 2010 movie very fine and true to what I saw of the Japan anime. It was a low budget movie like Syfy movies but it delivered ( like BSG TV show ).
I am not a manga/japanime fan fan but I prefer to watch this stuff made by Japanese, it's not the same otherwise.
We shall see.

 

[Loki882]

The second half didn't really work for me, and the writing was nowhere near as good as BSG, so the effects issues stood out more. McQuarrie should consult James Cameron on how to make awesome looking visuals.

 

[Gabe99]

ANN 2017-03-20:
Latino Review: Hollywood Yamato/Star Blazers Film Hires Writer

Skydance Media plans film as Christopher McQuarrie's next after Mission: Impossible

 

[terry78]

This is still happening? Cool.

 

[Octoberist]

Paramount needs their own Star Wars especially after Trek is unfortunately losing momentum.

 

[Tony Stark]

Loved this as a kid. It was a pretty intense series for a children's cartoon. Hopefully they do it justice.

 

[sueb1863]

Had a big crush on Mark Venture as a kid! it'll be interesting to see if they try to fit the plot of the whole series into a two hour movie...

 

[Wheels]

I'm expecting something very good to come from this. Just an initial gut feeling.

 

[FeedOnATreeFrog]

This could be cool.

Though I wish WB would have gotten to McQuarrie first to direct Green Lantern Corps.