I wanted Macross, but this will do for now. We’ll soon see the most popular giant robot come to life in Voltron, a sci-fi actioner directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, who is perhaps best known for 2018’s Skyscraper and 2021’s Red Notice.
The upcoming film, which wrapped production last year, is a live-action take on the 1984 cartoon Voltron: Defender of the Universe, which was originally adapted for American audiences from Toei’s 1981 anime Beast King GoLion. The U.S. version was dubbed into English and heavily edited down, largely because of the anime’s violent content.
Voltron took off almost overnight, turning into a full-blown 80s phenomenon with hit toys, spin-offs, and just about every kind of merchandise you could imagine.
The live-action Voltron will follow the U.S. version’s storyline, where an elite group of heroes team up to pilot a giant combining robot in order to take on a dangerous alien invasion.
The film features an ensemble cast that includes Daniel Quinn-Toye (Pressure), Henry Cavill (Mission: Impossible – Fallout), Sterling K. Brown (Black Panther), Rita Ora (Fifty Shades of Grey), John Harlan Kim (Diabolic), Alba Baptista (Borderline) and Samson Kayo (F1: The Movie).
Footnote: With a live-action Gundam that’s currently in production, it feels like giant piloted robot movies are starting to trend again. From old-school stuff like Robot Jox to more recent films like Pacific Rim, it’s always interesting to see how filmmakers try to translate ideas that work so well in animation into live-action. That said, where the hell is my Macross/Robotech movie?
Voltron is scheduled to be released in 2027 from Amazon MGM Studios.
Until then, be sure to check out Retroblasting’s The Violence of Votron, which is an eye-opener, especially if you’re never seen the Japanese version:
