ThunderCats, HO!
A ThunderCats movie has been languishing in development hell for many years, but back in 2021, we got word that Warner Bros. was moving forward with an animated feature adaptation of the classic '80s animated series with Godzilla Vs. Kong director Adam Wingard set to take the helm.
This movie was going to be a CGI/animated hybrid, with Wingard's long-time collaborator Simon Barrett on board as writer. Updates have been few and far between, and we had assumed that the project may have been shelved.
During the Annecy Festival, Warner Bros. announced that an animated ThunderCats movie is in the works, but no other details were disclosed, and we don't know if this is the same as Wingard's film or a completely separate feature.
The cartoon followed a team of cat-like humanoids (Lion-O, Cheetarah, Panthro, Tigra, Jaga, Wilykit, Wilykat and Snarf) who leave the dying planet of Thundera in search of a new home for their species. They settle on a planet that comes to be known as Third Earth, where they battle Mumm-Ra and their old enemies, The Mutants, for control of Lion-O's Sword of Omens.
There have been several earlier attempts to get a ThunderCats movie off the ground.
“I heard there was a ThunderCats script out there and it happened to be set up with some of my producers on Death Note,” Wingard told Deadline back when his movie was announced. “I asked them, I want to rewrite this script with my friend [and frequent collaborator] Simon Barrett. This is a huge passion thing for me. Nobody on this planet knows or has thought as much about Thundercats as I have. They gave me the reins. I saw this as an opportunity to do a new type of fantasy sci-fi spectacle film that people have never seen before.
It’s got a rich mythology; the characters are fantastic. The colors. I want to do a Thundercats film that takes you back to that ’80s aesthetic. I don’t want to reinvent the way they look; I want them to look like Thundercats. I don’t want to do it live action, either. I don’t want it to look like Cats, I don’t want those kinds of issues, no disrespect to that director whom I don’t mean to throw under the bus any more than everyone else has. I want to do a movie you’ve never seen before. A hybrid CGI film that has a hyper real look and somehow bridges the gap between cartoon and CGI. That’s the starting point, and Simon Barrett and I are getting into the script now.”
What do you guys make of this news? Are you disappointed that this movie won't be live-action, or do you think that animation is the way to go?