Godzilla vs. Kong is a hit with critics and audiences and is doing well at the box office even during a pandemic. As such, director Adam Wingard is on a roll. Prior to this, he proved his skills in a series of excellent genre movies, with the highlights being You’re Next and The Guest. He also directed Netflix’s live-action Death Note, which anime fans hated but honestly isn’t that bad. And for his next project, he’s looking to Third Earth for a live-action adaptation of beloved 1980s cartoon ThunderCats.
The fantasy/sci-fi effort about warrior cat people battling an evil mummy and his beast men is fondly remembered and though there’ve many attempts to bring it to the big screen, none have succeeded. There have, however, been two TV revivals in the last decade: 2011’s anime-influenced ThunderCats and 2019’s comedic ThunderCats Roar. The most recent show was pilloried by fans, so they’ll be pleased to hear that Wingard’s take reportedly sticks closely to the 2011 effort.
At least, that’s according to insider Daniel Richtman, who reports that the film will be epic in scale and much darker than the original cartoon. That indeed sounds similar to the 2011 ThunderCats, which focused on character and themes rather than toy-of-the-week plot lines. Fans responded positively to the show, too, and it was frequently referenced as the ‘right’ way to treat the property when criticizing ThunderCats Roar.
Wingard has also revealed that he’s read the unproduced scripts for past ThunderCats movies, which he says provided a surprisingly good foundation for his effort. He and his writing partner Simon Barrett are currently midway through their own screenplay, so it could be a while before we hear about casting and a release window. But whatever the case, after the success of Godzilla vs. Kong, Adam Wingard looks to be the best director to finally bring ThunderCats to life.
