For decades, Hollywood has strived — and failed — to assemble the massive robot mecha “Voltron” for a live-action adaptation of the beloved 1980s animated TV series.
Now, “Red Notice” director Rawson Marshall Thurber hopes he’ll be the one to bring the robot lion arms, legs and head together.
The filmmaker, who also directed Dwayne Johnson films “Skyscraper” and “Central Intelligence,” is attached to direct and co-write a “Voltron” movie in a package that is currently fielding offers from multiple studios. Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman (“Beauty and the Beast”) are producing with Bob Koplar of World Events Productions, the company that holds the “Voltron” rights.
Thurber is writing the screenplay with Ellen Shanman.
Although the original “Voltron” only ran from 1984 to 1985, it captivated young audiences with its story of a team of five people who fight the forces of evil in giant robotic lions that link together to form the even bigger titular robot warrior. The series was very loosely adapted from the Japanese sci-fi series “Beast King GoLion” (and then later from “Armored Fleet Dairugger XV,” which involved 15 vehicles instead of five), with World Events writing new stories and dialogue. The show was revived three times, in 1998 for syndication, 2011 for Nicktoons and 2016 for Netflix.
Several attempts to mount live-action “Voltron” movies in the 2000s and 2010s came to naught, including efforts by Pharrell Williams and Mark Gordon, and later by Relativity and Atlas Entertainment.
This may not be Thurber’s next project; he’s also set to make back-to-back sequels to “Red Notice,” which according to Netflix is the streamer’s most watched original movie ever.
The Hollywood Reporter first reported this story.