Tobey Maguire may be trading in one geek property for another. While rumors continue to rumble around whether or not Maguire will show up for a fourth Spider-Man film, HR says he’s considering a role in a new Warner Brothers film based on Robotech.
For those who don’t already know, Robotech is another one of those giant robot franchises lurking out there waiting to pick up Transformers’ scraps. Except unlike Transformers, the giant robots in Robotech are more like fighting vehicles, piloted by humans in a distant future where man must use giant robots to fight off an alien invasion. It’s kind of like the poor man’s Mechwarrior.
Like Transformers, Robotech was a cartoon in 80s. It originated in Japan, but was re-edited and re-aired in the United States. Unlike Transformers, it was never very successful. The show was watched only by a few hardcore geeks, and the subsequent role playing games, comics, toys and ancillary Robotech products it generated were loved only by a few niche fans. It just doesn’t have the built in American audience that Optimus Prime, or even other giant robot franchises like Voltron have.
Maguire is connected to the effort to turn Robotech into a movie through his production company Maguire Entertainment. Tobey is producing the movie for Warner Brothers, and because of that is also considering playing the movie’s lead. It’s somewhat surprising that he’d even entertain the notion of piloting a giant fightin robot, Tobey has always seemed pretty disinterested in the whole blockbuster movie thing and I’d always thought most of the will he won’t he talk concerning Spider-Man was in large part because Maguire wanted to get back to making more artsy movies. Apparently not.
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Uh, Mechwarrior is more like a poor man's Robotech. Robotech inspired all those franchises. It was re-edited from 3 japanese shows, Macross, Southern Cross and Mospedia...all of which were very successful there. They just had a prequel series called Macross Zero showing the events leading up to what happened in the first Macross movie and Robotech.
If you were to actually think about it, this would be a good move because of the level of popularity anime currently has in the US as well as the amount of international money that this could bring in.
I love Robotech more than Transformers due to it's drama and human touch. Transformers the movie is the best and I think Robotech could out done Transformers if they put more money in the project. I would hate also if Tobey will be 19 year old Rick Hunter. They should hire someone that resemble the character as close as possible and make trilogy of Macross. What is geek anyway? It's part of my childhood and I sure would love it to see it in a Big Picture. It would be money making machine, hope they would build a high quality toys, because this time, we all could afford it compare to the 80's.
Mechwarrior? Transformers? The only reason anyone ever thought about creating those is because of Robotech (Right on Dave). I can bet from your article that you have never seen the cartoon or read any of the books, so you only say what you believe to be true. With that said, I believe that this movie, if done right will be more popular than you think for several reasons. First of all, I believe that the niche audience is larger than you know and the loyal followers will be the first in line at the theaters. Second, the Transformers love plot was weak and puppy love highschool. I believe that this movie will have the type of love interest to bring women into the audience. Along with that, it has all of the fantasy and action of Star Wars, the Transformers or anything you have ever seen. I do have to say, however, that if Tobey Mcguire decides to play any lead characters, many followers will be deeply disappointed. He just doesn't fit the profile as was suggested by Richard.
I love Robotech! I don't know if a movie could do it justice since it is like a soap-opera with robots, aliens, and such, but I would be there. That was one of the things I loved about it, it was a continuing plot, always evolving. That is a great memory for me as a kid, I would look forward to watching the show everyday.
Robotech predates it. It probably was the inspiration for it in the first place!
But I really hope Tobey doesn't play Rick. Nothing against him but he...Isn't Rick. Or Roy. Or Max. Or any male character from this show. Maybe it should just be a high-def anime movie with a cast that disregards most Celebs. Who knows? Maybe some debuts could be made.
Actually, Transformer predates Robotech AND Macross, but no one familiar with both will ever say that Robotech picks up Transformers' scraps. Robotech is superior and deeper in every possible way besides marketability to 7-year-olds. Given the fact the Tobey was involved in Spidey makes him an ideal person to pursue this venture. Spidey concentrated on the "message" as much as the action and special effects. I hope he carries this over to Robotech, Sam Raimi directing?. As for him playing Rick Hunter, I'm actually all for it! They may not look the same (Tobey can never look like an asian kid thats needed a haircut for three years). But he's got experience playing the naive, unlikely and reluctant hero with the weight of the world on is shoulders, and not just as Spiderman. I really hope they take their time to create something special and try not to squeeze the whole story into two hours. Perhaps something like the Lord of the Rings trilogy would be nice. But even with the three parts, it would still be hard to tell the entire story.
Oh, this is such bogus bull! Look, Robotech was an abortive mish-mash of three Japanese cartoons, the first of which happened to be the "Evangelion" of its time. Macross was a BIG deal then. However, it didn't invent the idea of the bleedin' transformable robot. "Transformers" was the idea of a toy company, not Bob Budiansky or Joe Bacal or any of the other people attributed to trying to breathe life into a shoddy toy franchise. This said toy company actually bought the rights to re-manufacture old molds from various Japanese toy series from the mid 1970s (!) much the same way the Agramas decided, like a bunch of mafioso types, to bag the rights to circulate a couple of TV shows in syndication outside of Japan, and re-write them without telling anybody. Arguing which was "better" is sophmoric and misses the forest for the trees- the fact that even though both concepts are, blatant Madison-Avenue contrived ripoffs, there are those at the bottom of the totem pole- the bob budianskys here and there, the odd Peter Wang, and even the storyboard artist just interested in what he's doing for a living- that actually gave it its appeal. Think about it. If either one were truly concocted entirely by that douche marketing exec in a suit, do you really think it would have worked?
When I heard the news that Robotech becoming into a motion picture, I flipped out, I cheered. But, I dont think toby m. has what it takes to act out to be Rick Hunter. Toby M. to me, doesn’t have of wide range of characters to express. All his movies are basically the same innocent, coy, humble characters as in spider-man, seabiscuit, cider house rules, etc. That dance Toby M. acted out on SpiderMan 3 jumped the shark. lol. Rick Hunter deserves to be Rick Hunter. He should be sharp looking, and clever. I vote for Jake Gyllenhal!
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Tobey Maguire may be trading in one geek property for another. While rumors continue to rumble around whether or not Maguire will show up for a fourth Spider-Man film, HR says he’s considering a role in a new Warner Brothers film based on Robotech.
September 11th, 2007 at 20:27
Uh, Mechwarrior is more like a poor man's Robotech. Robotech inspired all those franchises. It was re-edited from 3 japanese shows, Macross, Southern Cross and Mospedia...all of which were very successful there. They just had a prequel series called Macross Zero showing the events leading up to what happened in the first Macross movie and Robotech.
If you were to actually think about it, this would be a good move because of the level of popularity anime currently has in the US as well as the amount of international money that this could bring in.
You'll figure it out someday, guys! ;)