Should the streamer win the bidding war for the famed anime series’ movie adaptation, ‘Red Notice’ filmmaker Rawson Marshall Thurber is reportedly ready to direct.
'Voltron: Legendary Defender'
Amazon Studios is in negotiations to acquire a live-action feature adaptation of the famed 1980s anime Voltron, Deadline reports.
Rawson Marshall Thurber, director of Red Notice, is attached to direct the film, as well as co-write the screenplay with Ellen Shanman from a story he wrote. Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman will produce alongside Bob Koplar -- head of World Events Productions, which controls the Voltron IP.
The rights to the film have garnered significant interest and a number of offers from studios and streaming platforms since March. Although Netflix hosted the premiere of the last season of Voltron: Legendary Defender and also has 12 episodes of the original series in its library, the streaming giant has not been a part of the live-action project bidding war.
Based on the Japanese sci-fi shows Beast King GoLion and Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV, Voltron was edited and dubbed by World Events to package as a syndicated series, Voltron: Defender of the Universe. The show - which follows five pilots of vehicles that together form a super-robot called Voltron - garnered a sizable cult following during its run in the mid ’80s.
A number of attempts have been made over the years to adapt Voltron as a feature. New Regency, Relativity Media, and DreamWorks were among the companies that developed either live-action or animated projects based on the source material, but none of those projects came to fruition.
The Voltron franchise has spawned three TV series: 1998’s Voltron: The Third Dimension, 2011’s Voltron Force, and the aforementioned Legendary Defender, which Netflix debuted in 2016 with DreamWorks.
Max Weinstein is a writer and editor based in Los Angeles. He is the Editor-at-Large of 'Dread Central' and former Editorial Director of 'MovieMaker.' His work has been featured in 'Cineaste,' 'Fangoria,' 'Playboy,' 'Vice,' and 'The Week.'
