Will A Voltron Movie Continue In ‘Transformers’ Footsteps?

I’m a child of the ’80s and damn proud of it. I used to rush home from school for my daily "Transformers"/"G.I. Joe" fix. "Sesame Street" and "Mr. Rogers" were totally my nursery school bag. I had spiked hair for crying out loud! Proud ’80s child or not though, I don’t really remember "Voltron" too well.

I had a die-cast toy model of course. And I did watch the cartoon to some degree. I remember that there are five flying lion robots/spaceships that come together to form the mighty Voltron. That’s about all though. Still, it’ll be enough to draw me into the theater when "The Dark Knight" producer Charles Roven, along with pals Richard Suckle and Steve Alexander, put out their silver screen adaptation of the import cartoon series.

The Hollywood Reporter‘s Risky Biz Blog brings word that the producers — who together form Atlas Entertainment — have picked up the rights to the long-dormant property. The trio will be joined by "Wanted" producer Jason Netter and World Events’ Ted Koplar.

The general script follows the five defenders of the planet Arus, each of whom pilots a flying lion/robot/thing. When the machinations of the evil King Zarkon become too much to handle — as they so often do — the five lion-ship-things lock together in the form of the giant, Zarkon-defusing robot Voltron. Why they don’t always tromp around as the Big V is beyond me.

"Voltron" ran in the U.S. for two years, from 1984 to 1985. The series got a reboot in the ’90s and then saw a comic book adaptation from Devil’s Due "a few years ago," but it hasn’t really managed to catch on in a big way since the initial ’80s excitement. Perhaps Atlas’s coming live-action update will change things. Bring on the low-to-mid nine figures production budget and Michael Bay-scale visual effects!!

Do you remember "Voltron"? Did/do you like "Voltron"?

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Voltron Live-Action Movie A Go

20th Century Fox has put the big screen adaptation of Voltron in turnaround, and the project is now being set-up at Relativity Media with, according to Variety, a “more moderate budget, utilizing the type of cost-effective technology employed in films including 300.” Mark Gordon and Jordan Wynn will produce the project, which is expected to announce a director within the next week. Relativity will finance and produce the film, before shopping it around to perspective distributors. Past Relativity films have been distributed by Lionsgate, but I would expect a bigger studio to bite. The “more moderate budget” comment does worry me a bit, because a film like this can not be done right if you skimp on the effects and action sequences. Read more