ThunderCats fans have been waiting for an update on Warner Bros.' plans for a feature adaptation of the beloved '80s animated series for a long time, and earlier this week, we got word that Godzilla Vs. Kong director Adam Wingard is working on a CGI/animated hybrid wilth long-time collaborator Simon Barrett.
Wingard (The Guest, Death Note) is a huge fan (he admits to being "obsessed"), and has actually been developing the project on and off for a while. During a new interview, the filmmaker revealed that working on GVK inspired him to move forward with ThunderCats because he realized that the technology existed that would allow him to do the characters justice.
"I would say during the late phases of the Godzilla vs. Kong post – when I started getting shots in from the Hollow Earth scene - I started looking at it and, honestly, this is how it started," Wingard explains to Uproxx. "It was literally I was looking at shots of Hollow Earth and I thought, god, this is exactly what a Thundercats movie should look like. And then I thought, wait a minute, I could make the Thundercats movie! And it’s like, this is what it should be. And up until now, I kept hearing that there was always this kind of peripheral, maybe Hollywood’s going to do a live-action Thundercats."
Some fans were disappointed by the news that this won't be a live-action take, but Wingard has a good reason for wanting to utilize CGI and animation to bring the feline heroes to life.
"Anytime I picture the Thundercats [in] live-action it’s basically just putting makeup on people, it just looks ridiculous. It just doesn’t seem right. Because everybody, always, they think, oh, the Thundercats, they have to look like cats. But if you really look at the Thundercats, it’s not like they’re conventionally looking like a cross between cats and humans, they’re different. They’re Thundercats. They’re bigger than that and stranger than that."
What do you make of Wingard's comments? Are you looking forward to seeing what the GVK director has in store for the ThunderCats?
Just in case you're not familiar with the cartoon, ThunderCats follows 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.