The bidding war to secure the big screen rights to Voltron, the robotic Defender of the Universe’s live-action debut seems to have been won by Amazon.
Our interest was piqued a few weeks ago by the news that the 1980s Voltron cartoon series was reportedly getting the live action blockbuster treatment at the hands of filmmaker Rawson Marshall Thurber. With the likes of Skyscraper and Netflix’s Red Notice on his resume, Thurber is a big-budget, effects-driven specialist, and a Voltron movie would certainly see him developing that element of his filmmaking even further. If you’ve never had the pleasure, Voltron is a giant robot made up out of smaller robots. He’s also the Defender of the Universe.
Several studios were said to be pursuing the project with Universal, Warner Bros., and Amazon all reportedly in the hunt. However, reports are indicating that it’s Amazon that may have come to some sort of deal for the film, meaning that after a couple of decades of near misses from companies, including DreamWorks and Relativity Media, it looks like this time Voltron will make it into production. If the streaming platform does become Voltron’s motion picture home, it will be a little sad that we won’t get to see the giant robot on a giant screen, but after so many near misses, fans will likely be content to just see a film going into production.
Red Notice is Netflix’s biggest original movie of all time, which has clearly given Thurber the clout to confidently push the Voltron project around Hollywood. However, where this sits with his plans to shoot back-to-back sequels to Red Notice is as yet still unclear. We’ll bring you more on this story as we hear it, including those all-important production dates.
The Hollywood Reporter
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