Congrats to Palladium! Robotech Movie coming!

[Spinachcat]

Variety announces Sony has Robotech rights
http://variety.com/2015/film/news/robot ... 201460191/

Sony Pictures has secured rights to the popular anime series “Robotech” and views the project as a potential film franchise.

The studio hopes to move quickly into production on the live-action feature, with Gianni Nunnari and Mark Canton (“300,” “The Immortals”) producing and Michael Gordon (“300,” “GI Joe”) writing the script. The series centered on humanity’s use of robot technology to fend off alien invaders and has an “Independence Day” meets “Star Wars” vibe. It is seen as having the global appeal necessary to become a blockbuster property.

Congrats to Palladium! It looks like their bet on Robotech may turn out awesome.

[Morgan Vening]

Variety announces Sony has Robotech rights
http://variety.com/2015/film/news/robot ... 201460191/

Sony Pictures has secured rights to the popular anime series “Robotech” and views the project as a potential film franchise.

The studio hopes to move quickly into production on the live-action feature, with Gianni Nunnari and Mark Canton (“300,” “The Immortals”) producing and Michael Gordon (“300,” “GI Joe”) writing the script. The series centered on humanity’s use of robot technology to fend off alien invaders and has an “Independence Day” meets “Star Wars” vibe. It is seen as having the global appeal necessary to become a blockbuster property.

Congrats to Palladium! It looks like their bet on Robotech may turn out awesome.

That'll depend on if Sony are able to navigate the legal minefield surrounding the IP, that has caused this to be a perpetual cluster**** to date. Every couple of years it comes up (last time it was McGuire and DeCaprio?), and then isn't heard from again until the next time.

Both sides, Harmony Gold and the one in charge of the Japanese side, both claim ownership, and I've seen a crapload of armchair lawyers argue both sides, but the likelihood remains, neither side is going to give up the IP without a fight. And if it's expected to be a "blockbuster property", with the money that entails, it's probably going to be a dirty, bitter, and most importantly drawn out fight.

And it's not like Sony can just pay both. Because the money paid to one, will essentially be seen as money taken from the other. And then there's creative rights, and merchandising, and a whole bunch of other aspects that muddy the waters.

Hey, I hope it comes out, and I hope it's not crap (the last two gaming based movies I was hopeful for, were). But this is a small step in what will likely be a long, arduous process.

EDIT: And even if everything there gets sorted out, that's still no guarantee. Kinda like the Rifts movie, which has been in development now for 13 years and counting. And that's nowhere near as messy as the Robotech/Macross thing.

[Forar]

Well, Sony has managed to sort out Spider-Man with Marvel, perhaps their current financial status will lead them to be inclined to play a little better with others.

But I won't hold my breath on this one until there's at least a trailer. We're talking about a property that used to be mentioned as a work in progress literally decades ago, back in the days of magazines.

But do Palladium even have anything to do with a potential movie? I imagine that if such a property took off that their RPG and RRT lines would get extra publicity, but 'congratulations' are a bit early unless this news itself somehow spurs some sales.

[Alpha 11]

Well, Sony has managed to sort out Spider-Man with Marvel, perhaps their current financial status will lead them to be inclined to play a little better with others.

But I won't hold my breath on this one until there's at least a trailer. We're talking about a property that used to be mentioned as a work in progress literally decades ago, back in the days of magazines.

But do Palladium even have anything to do with a potential movie? I imagine that if such a property took off that their RPG and RRT lines would get extra publicity, but 'congratulations' are a bit early unless this news itself somehow spurs some sales.

Sadly, I'll have to agree. But, this could still be a sign that good things are coming.

[Tiree]

Yeah, this isn't going to last long...

[palladiumjunkie]

On the flip side, it could be bad for Palladium, because if a movie made the franchise take off again, it could possibly price the license out of their reach when it would come up for renewal.

-Chris

[Steve Dubya]

Bearing in mind that just a month and a half ago this was reported to be getting back to development at Warner Bros., I'm not sure popping the cork on the champagne is in order.

[kaid]

If a live action robotech movie came to fruition that would indeed be a huge publicity boost for the robotech line and likely boost sales across the board for its RPG/magna lines. But as said the licensing is a bit wacky so I will not count any chickens before they gestate.

[rosco60559]

The movie is harmony gold's thing and doesn't have anything to do with palladium. The few reports confirm that much with zero mention of pb. As I've told others I'll believe this when it hits theaters. If the movie does happen and does well sure there might be a run on rrt and the rpg, but hg could get greedier than in the past and put the liscense fee out of reach like Chris stated.

And one over all question, why are congrats being tossed around when nothing has been actually achieved? First a book that's not on shelves yet and now a movie that has been in the making for 10+ years.

[Alpha 11]

The movie is harmony gold's thing and doesn't have anything to do with palladium. The few reports confirm that much with zero mention of pb. As I've told others I'll believe this when it hits theaters. If the movie does happen and does well sure there might be a run on rrt and the rpg, but hg could get greedier than in the past and put the liscense fee out of reach like Chris stated.

And one over all question, why are congrats being tossed around when nothing has been actually achieved? First a book that's not on shelves yet and now a movie that has been in the making for 10+ years.

What book? The Marine book?

[kaid]

The movie is harmony gold's thing and doesn't have anything to do with palladium. The few reports confirm that much with zero mention of pb. As I've told others I'll believe this when it hits theaters. If the movie does happen and does well sure there might be a run on rrt and the rpg, but hg could get greedier than in the past and put the liscense fee out of reach like Chris stated.

And one over all question, why are congrats being tossed around when nothing has been actually achieved? First a book that's not on shelves yet and now a movie that has been in the making for 10+ years.

Of course not its just that the more new robotech buzz there is all things of that product line will get more active interest so its not a direct thing but it could be a huge indirect boost.

[Forar]

What book? The Marine book?

No, this thread, which was posted over a month before the book actually went to printing.

Becoming a bit of a pattern to laud 'congratulations' for... not much happening at all.

Though as noted before, I'm not ruling out this ongoing Development Hell news update possibly piquing a little interest in the RPG/miniatures. But whether or not that proves to be a significant amount of interest (and actually converts into sales) is probably a long way off.

[Shark_Force]

can't see how HG would stand to benefit from making the license too expensive for PB to afford. it's not like they have dozens of other companies with open checkbooks willing to pay whatever it takes to get the license. the only other large RPG companies around don't exactly have a ton of capital lying around, and since they can't really use palladium's system, they'd have to develop something from scratch. by which time it was done, the hype would be over with most likely.

[rosco60559]

I'm not saying it would help them. Just worried the success would go to their heads and then decide the is us worth more than they were previously charging.

[Forar]

Or alternatively, put it up for bid and see who is willing to pony up some major cash for the rights.

I can't imagine the competition was particularly steep when it was recently renewed. If this does actually proceed forward, that could change things.

[Spinachcat]

Wow. Something is seriously wrong when I am the positive one on this forum...

[Kryptt]

I think it's more of something is seriously wrong here when fanboys are congratulating PB on stuff that isn't done or has nothing to do with them. Seems a bit desperate from the fanbase.

[Sureshot]

I agree. As much as I want to congratulate them on a possibly Robotech movie. I want to see a actual trailer online first.

[Forar]

I think it's more of something is seriously wrong here when fanboys are congratulating PB on stuff that isn't done or has nothing to do with them. Seems a bit desperate from the fanbase.

Exactly.

Hey, if they come back from Gencon and say 'omg we sold out of everything Robotech related, fans gushing about the potential movie some day couldn't get enough of the core boxes, expansions or limited edition figures!', great, cool, that'll be something to cheer about!

As it stands though, any fan that would be swayed by such a possibility likely also knows that production of the Robotech live action movie has been a running gag for roughly a quarter of a century and counting.

As a fan of the series, hey, yeah, that's better than nothing. It's just a bit early to break out the champagne for a movie that might be 2-5+ years in the making (if it ever actually gets the green light for full blown production).

[jreece06]

Whether PB has anything to do with the movie or not, this is good news for them.

If no movie comes out, it still got people talking about robotech, and when they search the net for it... they will find PB... maybe, the net presence kinda stinks overall, but games and such will definitely point this way.

If a movie does come out, it's basically free publicity.

If the movie is a hit, its free longterm publicity.

[ScottBernard]

Perhaps youre getting confused with the Rifts movie?

Why would Palladium get any publicity from a robotech movie? That would be for harmony gold if anyone, theyre the ones with the rights to robotech not Palladium.

[jreece06]

Scott -- people are talking about Robotech. the 6th top link on a google search for "Robotech" is to the PB kickstarter. If you don't count the news article, or the wiki pages, it's 2nd behind IMDB.

Kinda like if you owned a company making volley balls with a face painted on them, you might not have been mentioned in Castaway, but your business likely improved

[Spinachcat]

Jreece06 nailed it. Robotech movie news - whether it happens or not - has made worldwide front page entertainment news. Anyone googling Robotech now can see the Palladium game on the first page of the search results.

That's huge free publicity. Google Adwords for the same positioning would cost thousands, but this is better because its an organic search result (aka, not ad, but a search option).

Robotech has been a dead property for some time. Any jolt of life into the IP does two things for the license holders - (1) it perks up the attention of previous fans and for some, reinvigorates their interest which is a boon for license holders, and (2) it gives the license holders something to add to their press releases and promotions.

Thus the congrats to Palladium. When you license a dead property, you are buying something cheaper with the hope you can reinvigorate the fanbase. When you get a major news release attached to your licensed product, the increased sales and attention mean that your bet was a good one.

At the moment, it is looking like PB's bet on RT was a better bet than expected. Now we will have to see if any video game companies are going to do something with RT in the meantime, aka will this news have ripples in other areas of gaming?