The idea of making a live-action movie version of the Voltron cartoon series has been around almost as long as the series itself (nearly 30 years now), and since the success of the Transformers flciks, there’s been even more clamour, with nearly every studio in town wanting a piece of the giant fighting robot action. However while there’ve been many interested parties, a Voltron film has never happened, largely, it seems, because of issues with the film rights.
However Vulture reports that those problems have now been sorted out and the franchise is currently in the midst of a bidding war, with Relativity Media leading the charge to pick up the potentially lucrative movie version.
World Events Productions is the company behind the original 1984 program that featured iconic robotic lions and their human pilots who would gather to form the gigantic Voltron. In the last couple of years, Atlas Entertainment had been developing a screenplay, written by Conan the Barbarian’s Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer, and there was even some concept art, but with no news about this for ages, many thought the project was dead.
One of the reasons Voltron: Defender of the Universe has taken so long to reach the big screen is because creator Peter Keefe compiled the original show from two different Japanese anime series, editing them together so that they would pass US broadcast standards. The show became a huge hit, but Toei Animation, who produced the two original series from which Voltron was edited, wanted their share of the profits. Whenever Voltron: Defender of the Universe got rolling at a Hollywood studio, Toei Animation would want to be payed and massive issues over who owner what rights would stymie everything, something that continued ever after World Events bought out Toei rights, as the Japanese company said that deal didn’t include a movie..
However this issue has recently been worked out, World Events Productions has a brand-new Voltron cartoon premiering on Nicktoons in May, and now they’re moving forward with finding a partner for a big budget movie.
If Relativity Media acquires the rights to make the big screen version of Voltron, it is not clear if they will distribute it themselves, or if they will co-produce with Paramount Pictures, who own Nicktoons (however as they already distribute the Transformers movies, there may be a conflict of interest). Development on the feature is moving along, and its likely that the movie will be in theaters by 2013 or 2014, just in time for Voltron: Defender of the Universe’s 30th birthday.