I never would’ve expected one of the producers of the TRUE GRIT remake to take on a classic series like STAR BLAZERS / SPACE CRUISER YAMATO, but my expectations exist only to be confounded daily. Deadline’s got the scoop on an American movie adaptation of an anime and, wouldn’t you know it, this one doesn’t relate to AKIRA or DEATH NOTE. David Ellison is an actor cum pilot cum movie mogul whose production offices are apparently in a airport hanger (?!) and he's eying this space opera about battleships in the stars as the next project to divvy some of his company’s capital (reportedly around $350 million) into.
This new is, of course, coming a scant two months after the Japanese live action version of YAMATO debuted in its home country and dominated the local box office. My sense is that is what actually put this on Ellison’s radars since, for damn sure, it wasn’t the licensed pachinko machines.
Out of all these Western takes on anime that’ve been floating around, I feel like this has the best chance of finally cracking the nut. That's really on account of the production model of Ellison’s company, Skydance, which is similar to that of Legendary Pictures, a company that belts out blockbusters like THE DARK KNIGHT and 300 every year. Though, thinking about it, I'm not sure if American audiences will buy a project that makes STAR TREK’s subtext of “outer space naval warfare” as literal as this.
Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE . Order them on Amazon here & here . Follow him on Twitter: @tompinchuk
e: Zipang? Kinda been done from the US view, but wouldn't mind seeing that again.