The giant robot-centric anime Gaiking has had a long life. Originally an animated series in the 70s, it later became part of Mattel’s Shogun Warriors toy line and screened in the US as part of the anime anthology Force Five. There was a remake in 2005 and a trio of English-dubbed movies cut from the original series a few years later. And now it’s getting its very own live-action movie courtesy of The Walking Dead producer Gale Anne Hurd.
Hurd’s Valhalla Entertainment has teamed with Toei Animation, Japan’s largest animation house, and All Nippon Entertainment Works to bring the anime to the big screen. At first glance the plot is quite Pacific Rim-esque: Humanity fights an alien invasion with giant mechas. The main character is a former baseball star chosen to pilot the largest of the mechas, called Gaiking, because of his latent psychic powers.
The film, which doesn’t have a writer yet, is being produced by Hurd along with Toei’s Yoshi Ikezawa and Joseph Chou. This is the second time in two weeks we’ve heard about an awesome-sounding project that Hurd is working on; the first is Horizons, a WWII TV show with aliens.
Something tells me that if Pacific Rim and Gaiking are successful we might be seeing a few more mecha movies. I say bring ’em on. Just so long as they’re good and not, like, Transformers (but with people inside!).
(via: The Hollywood Reporter)
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