Millar & Gough Sign on for Robotech

Following what seems to be a growing trend, another anime that is moving to the big screen at Warner Bros. is taking a solid step forward, and this one has Smallville muscle behind it.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar have been signed to write a film adaptation of Robotech for Warner Bros. with Akiva Goldsman, Chuck Roven, Tobey Maguire and Drew Crevello producing. Millar and Gough have been showrunners for Smallville for years.

The anime series first hit American shores in a big way in the mid 1980s, when the original Japanese series was re-edited and had its dialogue altered in order to turn the sprawling spic into three series, The Macross Saga, Robotech Masters and Robotech: The New Generation. The three series were then syndicated by Harmony Gold in American markets.

As described by THR: A sprawling sci-fi epic, "Robotech" takes place at a time when Earth has developed giant robots from the technology on an alien spacecraft that crashed on a South Pacific isle. Mankind is forced to use the technology to fend off an alien invasion, with the fate of the human race ending up in the hands of two young pilots.

Star Wars alum Lawrence Kasdan had written an earlier draft of the screenplay. The film version of Robotech will be executive produced by Frank Agrama and Jason Netter.

Recently, both Akira and Ninja Scroll anime have been tapped as live action films by Warner Bros. along with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way.