Registered: Jan 2001
Location: anywhere but here
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'Transformers' Rolling Out in Live-Action Film
By Chris Gardner

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "The Transformers" -- the ever-morphing Hasbro toy line that spawned comic books, TV series and an animated feature -- are ready to change shape again, this time into live-action stars of the big screen.

Angry Films chief Don Murphy (whose next film is "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen") and writer-producer Tom DeSanto ("X-Men" and "X2: X-Men United") have teamed to produce a feature-length, live-action movie based on the popular brand.

The duo are expected to shop the project to studios shortly, and DeSanto said they have already received interest from a handful of directors.

DeSanto is currently working on a story treatment for the project before he and Murphy hire a screenwriter to adapt it for the big screen.

"Transformers enjoys an amazing fan base worldwide, and we believe that we can create an incredibly fast-paced, exciting movie that will be appealing to anyone who loves action films," Murphy said in a statement.

Added DeSanto: "Transformers is one of the properties I have been infatuated with for a long time. Like 'X-Men,' Transformers offers an amazing mythology with all the elements to create a successful ongoing franchise, iconic characters, global themes and a world that has never been seen before onscreen."

Introduced in the mid-1980s, the Transformers brand centers on a group of robots that are able to change into a variety of objects, such as cars, trucks, planes, ships and other technological creations.

The feature film will tell the story of an intergalactic war between two races of robots: the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons. When their fight comes to Earth, the future of humanity inevitably hangs in the balance.

"We loved the creative take that Tom and Don presented to us," said Jane Ritson-Parsons, president of the Hasbro Properties Group. "And for Hasbro, the center of our corporate strategy is extending our core brands in a variety of entertainment forms ... This is a franchise where the next story arc and the next destination is on the big screen."

The Transformers was introduced in the United States by Hasbro in 1984 as a boy-friendly toy line. But even though the brand has been around awhile, it enjoys continued success, with sales up 64% in 2002 over 2001, according to Hasbro.

Currently, they can be seen seven times a week via the series "Transformers Armada" on the Cartoon Network. According to Hasbro, additional television programs and comic books are on the schedule for 2004.

The only time Transformers came to the big screen was in 1986 with the animated feature "The Transformers: The Movie."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
Posts: 35561

How much CGI does a film have to have before it isn't 'live action' anymore, I wonder.

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Registered: May 2002
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All I can muster is WOW.

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: anywhere but here
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quote:

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Originally posted by Smug Git
How much CGI does a film have to have before it isn't 'live action' anymore, I wonder.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: MadCo
Posts: 1801

SWEET!!!!

Melesse

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Registered: Sep 2001
Location: greta white north
Posts: 530

I prey by 'live-action film' they mean 'animated feature'

BRING IN THE JAPS FOR CHRISTS SAKE

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quote:

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Originally posted by bad-moj0
I prey by 'live-action film' they mean 'animated feature'

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Registered: Sep 2001
Location: greta white north
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No shit, it was kind of a joke. And a bit of a hope that they'll come to their senses and realize it should be a full blown animated movie, just how it's been all these years. Like you said, they're still shopping around. It COULD be a kick ass animated movie, thus why I say they should get some Japanese animation in there. They're crazy animators when coming to machinery.

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quote:

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Originally posted by bad-moj0
No shit, it was kind of a joke. And a bit of a hope that they'll come to their senses and realize it should be a full blown animated movie, just how it's been all these years. Like you said, they're still shopping around. It COULD be a kick ass animated movie, thus why I say they should get some Japanese animation in there. They're crazy animators when coming to machinery.

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Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Posts: 1055

I just hope that they stick to the storyline from original animated series, and don't fuck with it like they did with Transformers Armada. That show sucks ass.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: VA
Posts: 423

they could make it like roger rabit was filmed!......

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