Battle of the Planets Feature Film

[Bobkat]

But I wonder which "original" they're thinking of. (the article doesn't say).

Are they going to stay true to the Battle characters? Or are they going to migrate origin pieces from Gatchaman? I hope it's the former because Battle is its own distinct production.

[MoonlightDezu]

"The Russos are also slated to direct an adaptation of the classic anime series

At this point, I shouldn't worry about the Misinformation on Wiki a while ago. But it raises the question if they wanted to stick to the source material, is it BoTP or Gatchaman?

I'm sure they probably won't Ignore Gatchaman at all, but since BoTP was the edited and localization version of it that change the General image of Gatchaman (Just like MMPR from Zyurangers), I wonder what they're Implying on this?

[The Other Jason]

Hi all,

This news sort of fits in this section - for now. If the item in question gets developed, I'll probably make a separate entry for it later.

Japanese video game company, and AGBO minority stake-holder, Nexon, recently held talks at the Nexon Developer's Conference (NDC), where their CEO Owen Mahoney and AGBO's CEO Jason Bergman discussed future plans.

As reported by Sam Nussey and Dawn Chmielewski via Reuters, "The two companies are in early talks on adapting Nexon franchises such as MapleStory and Dungeon and Fighter, which have rich lore and passionate fan bases. They are also discussing a game or virtual world inspired by Battle of the Planets, an iconic Japanese anime show from the 1970s that AGBO is developing as a feature film."

So I guess this means we can look for an extremely detailed Battle video game or immersive world game of some sort.

The full story can be read here.

[Moonlight_Dezu]

I've researched a bit about the game company and its Portfolio back then and I already Implies they will use the Battle elements for the Game development.

The company seems only focused on small-scale Online games for all existing game Platforms. I am only familiar with the Blue archive (Mobile) and have no clue with other Portofolio.

[The Other Jason]

Hi all,

I've held off posting about this for a few days, mainly because I've been looking for confirmation of the quotes and/or another source of the story. After days of searching, I haven't found anything so far. However, if the following is true from July 25, it's pretty big news.

Editor Koichi Irikura at the CinemaJapan website posted brief quotes from Anthony Russo, who was promoting AGBO's latest film, The Gray Man. The article was titled "Avengers' Russo Brothers Hollywood Version Gatchaman Will be Live-Action Production." They persist on confusing Gatchaman and Battle by calling it a "Gatchaman film." During the discussion, Russo mentioned a couple points on the upcoming Battle of the Planets film. The following undated quotes were included in Japanese, which I have translated back into English. I do not have access to the original English versions.

Anthony Russo's quotes regarding the Battle of the Planets film:

"企画はまだ開発段階なので、これといった新しいお知らせはできませんが、私たちが監督をする、実写作品になる予定です。"
"The project is still being planned, so there is no new information known about it, but it will be a live-action production that we will direct."

"撮影する日を楽しみにしています。子供の頃から番組の大ファンで、この作品を構成する要素やアートワーク、物語を用いた、新たな作品を作れることをとても誇りに思っているんです。"
"We're looking forward to the first day of shooting. As huge fans of the show since we were children, we're very proud to create a new production using the elements, artwork and stories that made up the original."


The first line distinctly said "we" and was not vague about it. That would seem to indicate he is expecting his brother and himself to direct the film. Hopefully more information, like the complete original interview, comes forward about this soon.

I don't normally pass rumor-like information such as this along without some kind of confirmation. I thought I'd mention it here though, in case anyone else has run across more news. I hope it isn't simply a case of older quotes being confused through layers of translation. But it could be a new and genuine update. I'd like to be able to add this to the main site page about Battle's feature film news... I just don't feel like I'm on solid enough ground to do that yet.

But again, this may be a fairly significant announcement. You can read the full story here (in Japanese)

[Stardust]

A few days ago I saw something about the Russo brothers not doing any more work in the MCU. My brain went good, now focus on the Battle movie. Maybe this is an indication that they are?
I hope, one day, before I'm dead, they get this movie off the ground LOL.

[The Other Jason]

Hi all,

Well, I feel a bit better about that earlier July 25th piece I mentioned from CinemaJapan (in Japanese). It seems that the Russo Brothers have been making rounds to various Japanese outlets promoting their projects. We now have more comments from August 6, that they made to the Japanese entertainment site, Movie Walker Press.

As they discussed their projects, they were asked about the Battle of the Planets film by reporter Nobuko Yamazaki, who referred to as a "Gatchaman" project (as it seems all Japanese outlets are doing). Anthony Russo had the following to say:

Q: 最後に、お2人がマーベル作品から離れられて3年が経ちますが、その間の道のりと、日本のファンが気になっている「ガッチャマン」の映像化プロジェクトについても進捗状況を聞かせてください。
Q: Finally, it's been three years since the two of you last worked for Marvel. Please tell us of your journeys during that time, and about the progress of the Gatchaman film project that so many Japanese fans are interested in.

アンソニー「実に心躍る3年間でした。『～エンドゲーム』を終わらせたあと、小規模の作品でしたが誇り高い退役軍人の話『チェリー』を撮り、そのあとで『グレイマン』を作りましたが、こちらは規模感も含めて非常に野心的な作品となりました。そして秋からは、またクリストファー・マルクスとスティーヴン・マクフィーリーが脚本を手掛けた、グラフィックノベルが原作の映画『エレクトリック・ステイト』の撮影が始まります。
Anthony [Russo] - "It's been an exciting three years. Following Avengers: Endgame, we did a smaller-scale production called Cherry, about a proud veteran, and then we made The Gray Man. It is a much more ambitious work in terms of its sense of scale. In the Autumn, filming will begin on The Electric State, based on the graphic novel, [and adapted] by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.

『ガッチャマン』は『Battle of the Planets』という英題ですが、その撮影は我々も楽しみにしています。子どものころから大好きな作品なので、今回は『ガッチャマン』の要素や物語を用いて、新しいライブアクションの映画を作れることを大変誇りに思っています。まだ開発段階ですが、実写映画を作る予定なので、良い作品を作れるように頑張ります」
Gatchaman is called Battle of the Planets in English, and we're looking forward to filming on it. We were huge fans of the production as children, and this time we're very proud to be able to make a new live-action movie using elements and stories from Gatchaman. It's still in development stages, but is being planned as a live-action film, we'll do out best to make it a good one."

While these quotes cover much of the same ground as the July 25th story, they do make one point a bit more clear - that the Russos intend to use Gatchaman story elements in the Battle film. That point was mentioned in the CinmeaJapan story, but it wasn't as clearly defined if they meant original elements from Gatchaman or Battle stories.

You can see the entire interview here (in Japanese).

[Moonlight_Dezu]

Been thinking about how the Russo brothers will Use the Elements from Gatchaman for their Live action project, as they promised to make the movie in a Holistic way (Which I believe in the same way as "The Batman" were Adapted) and won't be MCU way. Now they sort of confirmed it makes me more optimistic about the project a bit. I'm still largely pessimistic due to their Writer but we'll see.

[Stardust]

I am going to put this here, cause I can't think of a better place to put it. But if you could help pick the cast for who would play who in this movie, who would you pick?
I always liked Grace Park for Jun/Princess but she might be a bit too old now, sadly.
Since they want to explore the gender fluidity of Zoltar/Katse, I think Mason Alexander Park would be perfect for that role. (If you're not familiar with the name, they play Desire, on Sandman)

[The Other Jason]

Hi Stardust,

I am going to put this here, cause I can't think of a better place to put it. But if you could help pick the cast for who would play who in this movie, who would you pick?
I always liked Grace Park for Jun/Princess but she might be a bit too old now, sadly.
Since they want to explore the gender fluidity of Zoltar/Katse, I think Mason Alexander Park would be perfect for that role. (If you're not familiar with the name, they play Desire, on Sandman)

Sure, I think this is the catch-all thread for feature film topics - I can always start separate ones if need be.

I really haven't given a lot of thought to casting options lately. I remember fans talking about that a lot in the past - we should probably take a look again.
I agree, Grace Park would have been good when she was younger. I just saw her in an episode of Stargate: SG-1 (from before Battlestar) and thought about how she may have done as Princess.
I'm not familiar with Sandman, so didn't know the actor you mentioned, but I looked up some footage and yeah, that could be a good choice for Zoltar. Someone else I'd thought of a while ago for that role was Tilda Swinton. A great actor, and she's always had that look that I think would be good in and out of the mask. I believe she's also around 6 feet tall - which isn't as important in this age where images can be so easily adjusted, but the height from the start certainly couldn't hurt!