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Column by Scott Green
Variety is reporting that America's favorite combining robot, Voltron, is taking a route more similar to the recently announced Thundercats revival than its big screen toy tie-ins brethren G.I Joe and Transformers. Marking the franchise's 25th anniversary, a new, animated 26 episode "Voltron Force, will run Nicktoons alongside Mattel toy launch in 2011. WEP and Classic Media will produce the series with Kickstart Productions ("Wolverine and the X-Men"), with Classic Media handling the licensing. The series and its toy tie-ins have been described as employing an "edgier, modernized robot." "What's paramount is getting the toys right," Ted Koplar, president of St. Louis-based WEP told Daily Variety. "They're pretty involved toys that have to transform and fit together." WEP and Classic Media had been developing a live action feature for some time but scribes, including Justin Marks, have yet to lock down the right tone, producers said. The last twist in the Voltron revival development saga had been a project reboot, with prior movie scripts discarded and a harder-edged, PG-13-rated Voltron OVA in the vein of The Animatrix and Batman: Gotham Knight is being discussed. When Quiet Earth spoke to Voltron producer Jeremy Corray, it was stated "we have pressed the reset switch on the front of the old NES." It's been a legally contentious journey. According to Hollywood Reporter, last September a law suit has been filed in Los Angeles Superior Court when indie producers James Young, Ford Oelman and Mark Costa of banners Animus Films and NHO Entertainment alleged that St. Louis-based World Events, which holds rights to the television property, and its partner Kickstart Prods. negotiated illegally with other producers during what the producers say was an exclusive period. "World Events secretly conspired with Jason Netter and Kickstart Entertainment to find investors and make the movie without NHO and Animus during the terms of the exclusive deal," the suit says. World Events and Kickstart responded with the statement "this lawsuit is frivolous and without merit, and we will defend ourselves vigorously," adding "fortunately, these baseless claims do not in any way encumber the film or any other Voltron project, and we are excited to proceed on the long-awaited Voltron feature film with our partner Atlas." Back in July 2009, Hollywood Reporter's Risky Business blog delved into the efforts to kickstart the live action of combining giant robot Voltron. ImageAtlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven, Richard Suckle and Steve Alexander, the producers behind "Get Smart" and "The International" (and Roven of course also produced "The Dark Knight) had acquired the rights to make a live-action feature based on the robot-lion property, pushing the project forward after several years in development with the Mark Gordon Company. And, live action Voltron hit some legal trouble the previous year. According to Anime News Network, World Events Productions (WEP) attempted to serve Toei Animation with a law suit concerning the live action adaptation of Voltron. While Toei produced Hyakujuu Ou Golion (King of Beasts Golion), the anime localized as "lion" Voltron and Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV (Mechanized Fleet Dairugger XV), localized as "vehicle" Voltron, Koplar Communications licensed the rights to that original anime and produced the Volton localization. The relationship between Kopar and Toei went to the courts in 1999 when Koplar's WEP production company created the CG Voltron: The Third Dimension, leading to new agreements between the companies in 2000, and future head-aches trying to suss out who had the rights to what. For more on the dispute between Kopar/WEP and Toei that ensued following Variety's report concerning the Voltron live action, check out Anime News Network's blow by blow here.
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