It looks like someone else is going to take a crack at the ‘Thundercats’ franchise. The original show was an 1980’s icon and later it was rebooted in an anime style in 2011. Recently Warner decided that they should make a new kiddified version called ‘Thundercats Roar’ which was, frankly, garbage.
Now it seems Warner is bringing in their director from the ‘Godzilla Vs. Kong’ film, Adam Wingard, to direct a new CGI/Animation Hybrid film.
I have to admit, after ‘Thundercats Roar’ I’m wary of yet another attempt to revive the beloved franchise. Where I have hope is that Mr. Wingard seems to actually care about the show.
In an exclusive interview with Deadline, Wingard talked about his history with ‘Thundercats’
He discussed how it was a “dream project’ for him and how he was obsessed with the show in high school and even aided in his decision to become a filmmaker. He even spent his 10th grade year writing his own ‘Thundercats’ screenplay. Like a lot of us pop culture geeks, he was made fun of for it.
“...My real obsession with Thundercats came in high school, the pinnacle of me deciding I wanted to be a filmmaker, and pushing in that direction…I actually spent most of my 10th grade year, I completely blew it. I didn’t pay attention in school, made terrible grades. And the reason? I was writing my Thundercats screenplay through my entire tenth grade year. And I was hand writing it. The screenplay itself ended up being 272 pages long. I still have it. It was one of those things where I would carry around my notebooks and talk about it. I didn’t even realize the kids in my class were making fun of me as they would ask me questions about my Thundercats screenplay. It was only one day my friends asked me and I was excitedly telling him all these things about my Thundercats screenplay. And I heard him turn around to some of the girls in the class, these were girls I had crushes on, and he’s making fun of me for writing Thundercats! Because it was ridiculous. But that was the first moment where I had a though that maybe I would not be able to make the Thundercats movie.”
This gives me a bit of hope for a true spiritual successor to the franchise. But, like many fans, I’m afraid to get my hopes up.
Now, it’s 20 years later, and he heard that there was a “Thundercats” script and he asked if he could rewrite the script with Simon Barrett. The project was already being developed by Dan Lin and Roy Lee, who were producers on “Death Note” that Wingard directed. It seems that Lin and Lee are also staying on as producers. The early script treatment was done by David Coggeshall. Since ‘Godzilla Vs. Kong’ is looking like it will perform well, they apparently said ‘yes.’
It sounds like he’s going to try to do something new, but keep the Thundercats themselves.
“They gave me the reins. I saw this as an opportunity to do a new type of fantasy sci-fi spectacle film that people have never seen before. It’s got a rich mythology; the characters are fantastic. The colors. I want to do a Thundercats film that takes you back to that ‘80s aesthetic. I don’t want to reinvent the way they look; I want them to look like Thundercats. I don’t want to do it live action, either. I don’t want it to look like Cats, I don’t want those kinds of issues, no disrespect to that director whom I don’t mean to throw under the bus any more than everyone else has. I want to do a movie you’ve never seen before. A hybrid CGI film that has a hyper real look and somehow bridges the gap between cartoon and CGI. That’s the starting point, and Simon Barrett and I are getting into the script now.”
Of course fans will have to see more before forming opinions on it, but if Wingard can actually do what he says he wants to do with it, and they let him, it’s possible we could get the respectful version that fans have been wanting since the 2011 reboot ended too soon.
If he ever wants to chat about how cool ‘Thundercats’ is, he’s more than welcome to drop us a line.
I look forward to seeing more. I want to believe.
You can read more of Mr. Wingard’s interview on Deadline.
Featured Image –Mental Floss
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