Sci-fi masterpiece to get English-language adaptation…
Mike Fleming over at Deadline is hearing that producer David Ellison’s Paramount Pictures based banner, Skydance Productions, has hired Christopher McQuarrie (‘Jack Reacher,’ ‘Way of the Gun’) to both write and direct a large-scale live-action adaptation of the 1970s space opera anime series ‘Star Blazers.’
An English-translated adaptation of the seminal Japanese anime series ‘Space Battleship Yamato,’ ‘Star Blazers’ is a spanning epic set in the 22nd century and finds Earth threatened by a deadly interstellar enemy, the Gamilas Empire. Faced with extinction from nuclear bombardment and radiation, the brave crew of the Space Cruiser Argo must embark on a pioneering journey of 296,000 light years, and return within only one year to save the human race.
Skydance acquired the property back in 2011 and brought on McQuarrie to tackle the screenplay, but the project fell in development hell. McQuarrie, Ellison, Josh Klein, and Dana Goldberg will produce, with Shouji Nishizaki and Paul Schwake serving as will be executive producers.
A live-action film remake of the original ‘Space Battleship Yamato’ was released in Japan back in 2010. You can check out a trailer below: