As a beloved 1980s property that can stir up misty-eyed feelings of nostalgia among fans, it’s a surprise that nobody’s managed to bring the ThunderCats to the big screen. However, Godzilla vs. Kong director Adam Wingard is hoping to change all of that, as he recently signed on to helm and co-write a live-action/CGI hybrid alongside his regular collaborator Simon Barrett, although it might not be happening until after his Face/Off sequel, depending on which one comes together the quickest.
The ThunderCats have been the stars of three animated shows, the most popular of which remains the original that ran for 130 episodes between 1985 and 1989. The broad strokes of the story follow a race of catlike humanoid aliens that dwell on a planet known as Third Earth, after their homeworld of Thundera is destroyed.
Battling against the Mutants of Plun-Darr, the series’ MacGuffin is the mystical Sword of Omens, which has the Eye of Thundera embedded into its hilt. The core team put themselves into cryogenic sleep, but awaken only to discover that the sorcerer Mumm-Ra wants to see them destroyed and claim their power for himself.
It’s wild, that’s for sure, but it definitely possesses the potential to launch a multi-film franchise of crowd-pleasing fantasy action blockbusters if the material is handled correctly. Having only just been announced, ThunderCats is a long way away from entering production never mind hitting the big screen, but insider Daniel Richtman claims that Vin Diesel already has his eyes on a role. The tipster doesn’t offer anything more than that, but if we had to take a wild guess, we’d say he’d be after Panthro, if only because the character is strong and bald, which makes him a superficially obvious fit.
