Written By: Ken HulseySource: Undead Backbrain
As expected Hong Kong based Agog Films Productions to advantage of all the media attention of the San Diego Comic Con to announce that they had chosen two directors for their giant robot epic, "Future Fighters". The multi-national production will now be under the direction of Korean film maker Nelson Shin, who served as director/producer of the 1986 animated "Transformers" movie, and Hong Kong director Ken Siu, who is best known for his work on "The Forbidden Kingdom", "Fearless" and "Rush Hour".
Here is some background info on Nelson Shin from Wikipedia:
Nelson Shin (b. 1939; Korean name: Shin Neung-kyun(신능균)) is the founder and president of Akom Production Co., Ltd., in Seoul, South Korea. He founded Akom in 1985.
In the 1970s, Shin worked as an animator at the DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, where he worked on the Pink Panther films. He is also credited with creating the glowing lightsaber blade used by Jedi Knights in the first Star Wars movie released and other subsequent Star Wars films.
Much of the animation Shin's studio has produced has been for American television series. Some of Akom's credits are: The Simpsons, Batman: The Animated Series, X-Men, Invasion America and Arthur. Shin's most well-known accomplishment is his direction of the television series The Transformers and Transformers: The Movie. Akom's lead animator is Kim Jun-bok.
Beginning in 1999, Shin worked on the animated feature film Empress Chung. The film was largely animated in North Korea, and in August 2005 became the first movie ever to open simultaneously in North and South Korea.
In 2009 he was elected president of the International Animated Film Association, a post he is to hold until 2012.
It was also announced that Japanese action star Rina Takeda has joined the international cast along with Ray Park (The Phantom Menace), Eriko Satô (Cutie Honey), Lisa Sa (Lisa Cheng)(Chinese model, athlete and gymnast) and Yasaki “David” Kurata (Blood: The Last Vampire).
The 3D effects for "Future Fighters" will be handled by New Zealand based WETA Digital, who also handled the effects for Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "King Kong", "District 9", the Korean monster film "The Host", "Avatar" and the upcoming "Planet of the Apes" reboot "Rise of the Apes".
The film is heavily inspired by the two Japanese animated series "Macross" (Robotech) and "Patlabor" as producer Guy Orlebar explains, "This Macross story is basically a love‐triangle between the main three characters set against a war between humans and big green aliens who battle in these fantastic robotic fighters. The robots, or mecha — the Japanese word for mechanical designs — are treated as little more than part of the background, and instead it’s the human drama between the three characters that takes centre stage — something which is also very similar to the Japanese TV show, and two of Mamoru Oshii’s animated feature films, Patlabor, where the robots in that show are really nothing more than fancy police patrol cars but still looked so cool and made the show so distinctive."
Sounds like my kind of movie!
You can view a copy of the press release that Agog Films Productions let fly at Comic Con - Here
And here are a few stills along with some concept art from "Future Fighters":
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