43 replies to this topic

[Khobai]

robot jox is probably the closest thing to battletech movie were ever going to get

[James Argent]

I can't believe they bothered to put Robot Jox on Blu-Ray.

[Koniving]

Gwei Loong, on 02 May 2018 - 10:00 AM, said:

I just posted about this movie in the HG vs PGI thread because well they got a game planned for Robotech.



Battletech was originally based off Robotech and it'll be hard for anyone to actually produce anything similar.

BT had influences from numerous things, including Macross (NOT Robotech is Harmony Gold's renaming of Macross), with heavier influences from Gundam (with the heaviest being the Universal Century setting, including 08th Mobile Suit Squadron), Patlabor, Dougram, Armored Trooper VOTOMS and numerous others.

Macross came out in 1982
BattleTech (released in 1984 as BattleDroids, titled BattleTech as of 1985).
Robotech came out in 1985.
Mechwarrior as an RPG came out in 1986.

Edited by Koniving, 02 May 2018 - 03:12 PM.

[Nightbird]

Just watch Macross, they torso twist and arm shield.

[Anjian]

Dragonporn, on 02 May 2018 - 05:07 AM, said:

Does it even exist? I'm talking generally about triple A quality film(CGI?) ones, not fan-made or cartoon/anime.

I'm not BT acolyte myself, barely familiar with universe, mostly from some old PC games and related website articles. But it is no secret that lore is enormous, and you don't even need to come up with full scenario from scratch, just adapt book story, or anything else with few script correction to fit the setting.

They film and produce stuff like Pacific Rim with no background, and people come running in theaters, throwing their moneys at it, while BT has gigantic fanbase all over the world companies can additionally capitalize on. Why it doesn't happening? Computer games, sure, films? Nope... Why?

Personally I'm more of Warhammer fan, both WFB and 40k, and it's the same thing. Fans are making some decent looking CGI short films, but no company wants to get their hands on it, with already existing and overwhelmingly epic stories, but instead they take on filming something like WarCraft, which was born as pure gameplay focused RTS with no real back or story, completely ripped off from well known franchises.

What, nobody want to see high quality 2h long action in any of those well known universes with tons of fans across the world? Instead, Marvel or DC every freaking year, oh c'mon...

BT does not have a gigantic following around the world. Its practically unknown outside of North America where its relevance has greatly diminished due to the lack of major hit games. The following in Asia and Europe are very small.

But...but... people, more like fan-geeks, especially in Asia and Europe, are willing to watch anything with big robots on it so long you have good production quality, well written and directed. Battletech is more open for discovery because people might like giant robots again, as opposed to having a big fanbase to capitalize on.

Maybe we will let the Russians do the robot movies. They have been making so little known but crazy science fiction films, probably just get ended up in Netflix.

[Vellron2005]

A Battletech movie would be nice.. Sooo many stories to tell..

[Anjian]

I may want to see a Patlabor revival first.

[MeiSooHaityu]

James Argent, on 02 May 2018 - 01:35 PM, said:

I can't believe they bothered to put Robot Jox on Blu-Ray.

I have a feeling that the movie has a bit of a cult following. It has one crucial thing necessary for a cult classic...Jeffrey Combs (even if he has just a cameo).

[SmokedJag]

Anjian, on 02 May 2018 - 10:22 PM, said:

BT does not have a gigantic following around the world. Its practically unknown outside of North America where its relevance has greatly diminished due to the lack of major hit games. The following in Asia and Europe are very small.

This is key. If BattleTech was a super-hot property it would have been picked up for film already, even with the licensing problems. The obvious fix - which would be easy for a big movie production company - is to decide how many of the Unseen you actually need and pay artists to do those from scratch. The concept of a fighting robot is public domain.

The branded entertainment fad - most of which was bad quality movies - was all about perceived market. BT/MW was never very big and it was last seen a long time ago. MW4:Mercs is the most recent and released in 2002. And the thing is, Hollywood has proven to be mostly justified on this. Most movies based on gaming stuff are both lousy and lose money. The relative cost vs. what one could expect it to do was enough to kill the HALO movie, which otherwise had a lot of things BT does not. Clear ownership, massive worldwide penetration and a very rich, powerful backer.

Assassin's Creed got a movie eventually. And tanked. $54 million in the US box office when it costs $125 million to just produce, nevermind release? Yeah no.

Studios hypothetically interested in making a BattleTech movie or live action TV/On Demand series would want proof this would make money because it is inherently expensive to do. Have to have giant robots and they have to look real so it doesn't look like SyFy.

[Anjian]

There are thesis written that explain why video game movies suck. Some of the reasons are:

1. The movie will never meet the expectation of the game.
2. The movie will never match the experience of the game.
3. The violence portrayed in the game will often be heavily censored on screen.
4. The game is designed as an interactive medium of entertainment; movies are meant as a passive medium of entertainment.
5. The movie will go very much out of the lore of the game, so it ends up barely resembling the game. Often than not, the movie is unrecognizable.

[CK16]

Base it on the books not the games, like someone said we don't need a Michael Bay explosion trilogy 4.0 ....The story telling of Battletech could be one of the best out there, the Battlemechs would add nice action scenes ext but not the focus of the series...The key characters would be.

[Leone]

@anjian, thanks for the Trailers! I had no idea they were doing a new Patlabour, and I'd watch the other, at least once.

SmokedJag, on 03 May 2018 - 02:59 AM, said:

Have to have giant robots and they have to look real so it doesn't look like SyFy.

Hey now, I thought SyFy did a great job with the Expanse Series.

~Leone.

[Adridos]

Leone, on 03 May 2018 - 07:34 AM, said:

@anjian, thanks for the Trailers! I had no idea they were doing a new Patlabour

That trailer is for the old TV series, the one they made a 1:1 scale Patlabor for. They are making a new anime, but we know nothing about it aside from the title being EZY.

[CMDR Sunset Shimmer]

Anjian, on 02 May 2018 - 10:22 PM, said:

BT does not have a gigantic following around the world. Its practically unknown outside of North America where its relevance has greatly diminished due to the lack of major hit games. The following in Asia and Europe are very small.

But...but... people, more like fan-geeks, especially in Asia and Europe, are willing to watch anything with big robots on it so long you have good production quality, well written and directed. Battletech is more open for discovery because people might like giant robots again, as opposed to having a big fanbase to capitalize on.

Maybe we will let the Russians do the robot movies. They have been making so little known but crazy science fiction films, probably just get ended up in Netflix.

Actually the Germans LOVE battletech.

[Wild Pegasus]

Anjian, on 03 May 2018 - 06:15 AM, said:

5. The movie will go very much out of the lore of the game, so it ends up barely resembling the game. Often than not, the movie is unrecognizable.

This, I think, would be the main issue. Battletech's lore is absolutely massive, spanning several centuries and containing a lot of important events scattered all across known space. There's no way you could realistically compress it all into a single movie and have it touch even a fraction of the things that have made the BT universe what it is. The Star League/Amaris Coup/Exodus storyline could probably fill an entire film on its own.

Even if the screenwriter was very familiar with the franchise there's just too much to fit in one film, especially when they would have to take time to explain the setting for the benefit of people who aren't familiar with Battletech.

[Alexander of Macedon]

[Dragonporn]

Wild Pegasus, on 03 May 2018 - 09:24 AM, said:

This, I think, would be the main issue. Battletech's lore is absolutely massive, spanning several centuries and containing a lot of important events scattered all across known space. There's no way you could realistically compress it all into a single movie and have it touch even a fraction of the things that have made the BT universe what it is. The Star League/Amaris Coup/Exodus storyline could probably fill an entire film on its own.

Even if the screenwriter was very familiar with the franchise there's just too much to fit in one film, especially when they would have to take time to explain the setting for the benefit of people who aren't familiar with Battletech.

Actually I don't believe so, there's really no need to fit centuries of event in one film, they can just pick some particular events, or as been mentioned before, book story and make movie for fans mostly. For regular viewer that would be beautiful movie with decent (hopefully) story and epic stompy mechs, but for fans with knowledge of backround, this will contain more interesting references and allow better understanding of events, because it is virtually impossible to introduce regular to whole BT lore like that, while there's really no need for. As an example, If anyone seen or are familiar with Final Fantasy franchise, they made very cool looking movie based on 7 called Advent Children. It took over events post game, and was a true gift for hardcore fans, while regulars just watched great CGI scenes and sequences without actual understanding of what's going on, but it hardly hurt this movie really.

[James Argent]

OK, regarding BT's vast lore trove...Star Wars succeeded wildly without any of the Expanded Universe stuff even existing at the time. Just because WE know all this stuff from 30+ years of development doesn't mean a movie needs to hash out every detail of it. Bring new people to where we were in the 80s when we were introduced to BattleTech with a short 'Dune exposition' at the beginning to briefly describe the Inner Sphere and BattleMechs then get on with the stompy-stomp. Any deep lore reveals can be treated as Easter Eggs for hardcore fans.

[evilauthor]

Dragonporn, on 04 May 2018 - 07:15 AM, said:

Actually I don't believe so, there's really no need to fit centuries of event in one film,

Indeed. The opening cinematic for HBS' Battletech game gets across the basics of the setting very well without saying one word. And we only learn about the actual story as we're playing that game. There's no reason a movie can't do something alone the same lines even if its story like HBS Battletech takes place in the back end of nowhere as far as the rest of the setting is concerned.

[Ensaine]

Alexander of Macedon, on 03 May 2018 - 10:22 AM, said:

^THIS trailer to me, sets the MW tone more than most any other. Now, imagine Legendary getting a hold of this.......