Over the past week, an artist for Imagi Animation Studios with the InterWeb handle of Felix IP has been posting concept art for Imagi's upcoming feature film, Gatchaman.
Based on the classic anime written by Jinzo Toriumi and directed by Hisayuki Toriumi, Gatchaman follows the adventures of 5 young martial arts experts – team leader Ken Washio, hot-headed second-in-command Joe Asakura, electronics and demolitions expert Jun, reconaissance expert Jinpei and ship's pilot Ryu Nakanishi – who stop a sinister alien organization called Galactor from stealing the Earth's resources.
Gatchaman Going For PG Rating
Based on what Felix has shown on his site, it's clear that this version of Gatchaman will be darker than most family-oriented animated films. This is borne out by the fact that the film's producers have announced that they will go for a PG rating for the flick.
The first series of shots showed off the new Gatchaman logo, which is more angular than the original, and a shot of the Utoland (with Joe's muscle car in the left corner). The final two images show Joe involved in a car chase, and a shot of Galactor invading the International Science Organization (ISO), the team's home base.
The second series features Joe getting arrested in the ISO's lobby (possibly after the car chase?), a cute shot of Jun's legs, and an early version of the Phoenix (the team's transforming plane) about to take off for another mission.
Even though Felix announced that there have been changes to the film's look since these pieces were produced, it's clear that Imagi's version of Gatchaman is looking very good. Certainly Imagi's previous efffort, 2006's TMNT, was a very good-looking movie (especially when one considers it was made for $35 million) that was undone by a lame script. Hopefully, Imagi can overcome that previous failing with Gatchaman.
What's Gatchaman About?
According to Imagi's website, the film is set "in a future world grappling with environmental and technological issues, the story focuses on 5 reluctant heroes whose remarkable genetic code makes them Earth's only hope of defeating extra-terrestrial invaders. Gatchaman will be a big, effects-rich movie with some of the most ambitious action sequences ever seen in animation."
As one can gather from the previous blurb, the movie will be an origins tale, showing how the team was assembled and learned how to work together in order to defeat the alien invaders.
Writer/director Kevin Munroe (TMNT) and producer Lynne Southerland were initially supposed to helm Gatchaman, but were removed from the flick in April of 2008. Paul Dini (Lost) and Robert Mark Kamen (The Transporter) have penned the screenplay.
Gatchaman flies into theatres on April 3, 2009.
Dominic von Riedemann - Dominic is the Animated Film Feature Writer, and winner of 11 Suite 101 Editors' Choice Awards.
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