Relativity is in negotiations to pick up the Voltron project from 20th Century Fox production company New Regency, which has been trying to proceed with a movie version since it acquired the rights last year but hasn't been able to agree a deal with the Japanese owners.
Relativity expects to announce a director in the next week or so, according to trade publication Variety.
The project is set for a more modest budget than originally planned and this will mean using the cost-effectve bluescreen/greenscreen technology that enabled Spartan war epic 300 to be made for just $65million (a mere snip compared to most of today's movie production budgets – for instance, The Dark Knight cost $185m and Transformers cost $150million).
Voltron is based on the popular Japanese animated TV series of the 1980s. A second TV series was made in the 90s. The film version is being adapted by scribe Justin Marks, who's behind Warner's big-screen versions of He-Man and Green Arrow: Escape from Supermax.
Marks' screenplay is described as a post-apocalyptic tale set in New York City and Mexico, where five survivors of an alien attack band together and end up piloting the five lion-shaped robots that combine into the massive sword-wielding Voltron to battle Earth's invaders.
Source: Coventry Telegraph
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