With the likes of Switchblade Romance, The Hills Have Eyes and now Piranha 3D, Alexandre Aja has made a career for himself out of gory horror, but it appears he wants to go in a slightly different direction, as Deadline reports that he’s lining up a project called Cobra-The Space Pirate, a big screen adaptation of the Buichi Terasawa created Japanese manga, which became a popular animated series.
Aja wants to make it a major tentpole release, although that rather relies on finding a studio that wants to spend that sort of cash on it, which may be a tough sell, as it’s not a particularly well known property in the US. Set ‘In a future where merchant spaceships and ruthless brigands sail across space, Cobra is a notorious rogue pirate whose refusal to align with the United Galaxies Federation or the Pirates Guild puts him on the business end of a huge bounty. As he tries to keep his identity secret and avoid capture, Cobra teams up with a sexy bounty hunter named Jane, who is out to locate her sisters and decode a treasure map tattooed on their backs. Their goal: to liberate a lost treasure on Mars.’
Aja says, “I grew up dreaming about Cobra. My day was, finish school, run home and switch on the TV and I was hardly the only one. Kids did it in France, Italy, Spain, all over Western Europe. For many people there is Star Wars and nothing else, but for me and my writing partner Gregory, there is Star Wars and Cobra. I am so surprised it never crossed the ocean and made the same impact in the U.S., because it is so big everywhere else. There are 60 books, a lot of TV animation and so many adventures, pirates and bad guys that it is perfect to be reinvented into a really cool space opera adventure franchise for a new generation.”
Aja has secured the rights, and is now busy in talks with financiers and will soon start work on the script.