172 replies to this topic

[cSand]

With all the major studios apparently having run out of ideas enough to just rehash everything ever made (superhoeros, old shows etc etc)...

you'd think this would a great time to make a huge budget Battletech movie


Someone on here must be a filmmaker...

GET TO IT

Put MIcheal Bay in charge cause it would have to have loads of HUGE explosions!!!!

Edited by cSand, 26 March 2015 - 09:07 AM.

[Piney II]

Well, there was Robot Jocks...........

[dezgra]

I would think that Neill Blomkamp could do a Battletech movie justice.

[HighTest]

As much as I'd love to see one, it might be somewhat impractical. While there are a definite group of people (me included) that are nearly fanatical about the franchise, most people in the world really have no idea what it is. Even if you dropped the rulebook or a box of pewter miniatures on their big toe.

For this to work, you'd need to have a director that doesn't mind dabbling in some Sci-Fi and that knows how to use B-list or C-list actors (I'm thiking someone like Guillermo Del Toro or Neill Blomkamp). I'd then suggest that, as blasphemous to some as it may be, toss out pretty much all of existing canon and come up with a fresh new script that would appeal to the masses, but one that still hearkens back faintly enough to canon that those of us that do care would recognize it.

Then, a Mechwarrior/Battletech movie might have a shot...

God help us all if Michael Bay gets involved in something like this...

[Vandul]

Lets just keep Uwe ***** out of it, shall we?

Edit: Haha, hes so bad the forums censored it. B O L L E

Edited by Vandul, 26 March 2015 - 09:18 AM.

[HighTest]

dezgra, on 26 March 2015 - 09:16 AM, said:

I would think that Neill Blomkamp could do a Battletech movie justice.

Apparently, great minds think alike.

[Mystere]

dezgra, on 26 March 2015 - 09:16 AM, said:

I would think that Neill Blomkamp could do a Battletech movie justice.

Sony says hi!

[Firelizard]

I dont think BattleTech would work as a movie.

Now, as a series in a similar vein to Game of Thrones? THAT would work.

[Suko]

Pacific Rim....I knew what I wanted from the movie and it delivered on everything.

[Mystere]

HighTest, on 26 March 2015 - 09:17 AM, said:

As much as I'd love to see one, it might be somewhat impractical. While there are a definite group of people (me included) that are nearly fanatical about the franchise, most people in the world really have no idea what it is. Even if you dropped the rulebook or a box of pewter miniatures on their big toe.

For this to work, you'd need to have a director that doesn't mind dabbling in some Sci-Fi and that knows how to use B-list or C-list actors (I'm thiking someone like Guillermo Del Toro or Neill Blomkamp). I'd then suggest that, as blasphemous to some as it may be, toss out pretty much all of existing canon and come up with a fresh new script that would appeal to the masses, but one that still hearkens back faintly enough to canon that those of us that do care would recognize it.

Then, a Mechwarrior/Battletech movie might have a shot...

God help us all if Michael Bay gets involved in something like this...

In other words, do it like Starship Troopers?

[Firelizard]

Suko, on 26 March 2015 - 09:19 AM, said:

Pacific Rim....I knew what I wanted from the movie and it delivered on everything.

Pacific Rim didnt even try to take itself seriesly. It was big robots and monsters beating the crap out of each other. No more, no less.

And it was GLORIOUS!

[HighTest]

Mystere, on 26 March 2015 - 09:19 AM, said:

In other words, do it like Starship Troopers?

Yeah, more or less.

I think the chance of success is all about the story and the special effects. If they can get the story right, the movie should follow. Sadly a lot of movie writing is such cr*p now.

Firelizard -- yes, a series would make a lot of sense too.

[Mystere]

HighTest, on 26 March 2015 - 09:23 AM, said:

Yeah, more or less.

I think the chance of success is all about the story and the special effects. If they can get the story right, the movie should follow. Sadly a lot of movie writing is such cr*p now.

Firelizard -- yes, a series would make a lot of sense too.

Starship Troopers the movie was an abomination. That is not the Mobile Infantry!

[Funkmaster Rick]

The Unseen Lawsuit, as I like to call it.

Combine that BattleTech's devoted but small cult following, a campy '90s-style cartoon, and a whole slew of legacy styles from the video games, miniatures, and artwork around the series, and you end up with a movie that requires an expensive CGI or Robotic Puppetry budget as a quintessential, unavoidable expense, has rigid constraints in terms of legacy and other stylistic direction, requires a lot of good writing and a fairly deep knowledge of the BattleTech universe (and not just for the writer/director), and probably does not have a wide enough fanbase to make its money back in a reasonable timeframe.

Alas, BattleTech enthusiasts aren't terribly common these days. =/

[El Bandito]

Start the movie series by killing off Melissa Steiner in the first episode with the bomb. Bound to get a reaction from the audiences.

[Jetfire]

Ridley Scott, JJ Abrams or Christopher Nolan would do the BT universe justice. This would be amazing. Unfortunately who is going to back this thing. They would have better odds with a remake of Battlefield Earth.

[CocoaJin]

Because no descent studio has the rights and they couldnt make money screening it in thousands of mother's basements?

[Bishop Steiner]

My Choice?

Wolves on the Border. If successful, then Heir to the Dragon and Wolfpack make the Trilogy.

Dragoons are THE Flagship unit of all things Btech, and don't suffer from near as much plot armor as anything Stackpole wrote. The books are gritty and violent look at Btech, with lots of betrayal and high villains, but ones that don't come off as mustache twirling madmen.

It allows you to span the Tech Eras of the universe in the Trilogy, has potential for a really dark war driven set of movies or series after, with the Jihad, and a perfect candidate for an Agents of Shield/Agent Carter type tie in with any of the exploits of the Succession War era Dragoons, through the "Tales of the Black Widow", IMO is the natural Netflix/HBO tie in.

The hard part would be casting Natasha Kerensky, as you can't just paste a pretty face on here and call it good. She has to be believably tough as nails, and military bearing.
Scarlett Johansson, way too typecast (and expensive), Milla Jovovich just doesn't click (and again, too typecast) Emily Blunt? She was pretty good in edge of tomorrow?

[Wiley Coyote]

Jetfire, on 26 March 2015 - 09:35 AM, said:

Ridley Scott, JJ Abrams or Christopher Nolan would do the BT universe justice. This would be amazing. Unfortunately who is going to back this thing. They would have better odds with a remake of Battlefield Earth.

I thought the new way of financing anything these days was through a kickstarter campaign.

[BARBAR0SSA]

If they wanted it to be successful it would need to do a lot of plot like all the back stabbing from the houses in it, not a lot of stompy robots.

Pretty much it would end up like Saving Private Ryan if that was based on WoT.

Edited by shad0w4life, 26 March 2015 - 09:50 AM.