The parade of cult kids’ shows being marched into the maw of the Movie Machine continues apace, with the latest title targeted for conversion being animated series Star Blazers, for which Skydance Production is in the middle of nabbing the rights and handing over to Chris McQuarrie for scripting duties.
/Grandpa mode: on/ Those old enough to remember might recall that Star Blazers appeared back in the 1970s on that glowing box that The Kids Today largely ignore, and itself was an adaptation of the Japanese series Space Battleship Yamato series, with the usual editing and dubbing. /Grandpa mode: off/
Considered to be one of the first truly popular crossovers from anime, the series took place on a badly polluted Earth with the human race staring extinction in the face within a year. A mysterious alien race offers them the plans to build an engine that can make their ships travel faster than ever before and a challenge that if they can reach the planet Iscandar, fighting all opposition in their way, they’ll be given the secret to saving the planet. Assuming they can get back in time, that is…
If the film makes it through the development asteroid field, it won’t be the first movie with links to** Space Battleship Yamato** to come down the pipe: a Japanese studio has just released a version to theatres there, which may make it over here one day.
Skydance is the brainchild of producer (and slightly wealthy bloke) David Ellison, who has been slowly easing into the world of film. His original aim was to be an actor/producer, though his first effort, Flyboys, crashed on arrival at the box office. He’s had some success since then as a pure producer though – especially with True Grit, which he co-funded alongside Paramount and is now seeing nab awards aplenty and bring a healthy return on its investment.
While he has other movies in development, including horror and comedies, Ellison’s a little bit obsessed with all things winged and mechanical – he owns several small planes at the Santa Monica airport in LA and he’s also spearheading a sequel to **Top Gun with Paramount that McQuarrie is also attached to write.