It certainly is good to see some news, but we really want that announcement ASAP, we’re all still waiting with bated breath.

The News: In an Evangelion panel at the Ohayocon anime convention in Columbus Ohio on January 30th, ADV director Matt Greenfield announced that several U.S. studios are competing for final rights to the project, meaning that actual production should begin soon. The delay on the project is due largely to the Transformers movie: The studios wanted to make sure that a “giant robot” movie would appeal to an American audience. The negotiations between the U.S. studios and Gainax are being handled by Joseph Cho, who assisted in the production of “Appleseed: Ex Machina”, an animated film based on the Appleseed series, so Mr. Cho has previous experience in dealing with studio types.

Matt Greenfield estimates that an official announcement, including naming the studio, the director, and perhaps casting information, would be made within the next 9 months.

Thanks Chris!

Thanks Tino!

The only news here is that the status of the Evangelion live action movie(s) seems unchanged by the announement of the four-movie animated re-make by Gainax.

More info on the ADV panel (without the live action news) here: ANN: Anime Central 2007: ADV Films

Discussion thread: acen update

Just a quick note to say that the next Newtype issue will contain a big scoop concerning Evangelion (or so is advertised in Japan’s September issue), whether this pertains to the live action movie is unsure. However given that a big announcement is due it is quite possible we may hear some substantial and important news concerning the movie within the next month. Let’s cross our fingers.

Some speculation as to what else it could be includes a possible new Hideaki Anno project as rumored at ANN.

For further rumors and discussion concerning the “scoop” Eva Monkey makes some good points with particular reference to the possibility of new Evangelion anime.

“ADV also made several confirmations during the panel. The biggest and most exciting of them all was that the Live Action Evangelion Movie is confirmed and is going through pre-production.” -Krazy Gamers

Thanks Camarokris

“The Project has moved slowly in the years since, but ADV remains committed. According to a recent article in Fortune magazine, ADV has raised half of the $120 million deemed necessary for the film, and Weta’s Oscar-winning visual-effects artist Richard Taylor has professed his sincere desire to see a live-action Evangelion. The film may be far from finished, but ADV President John Ledford maintains that it’s still very much alive.
’It would be foolish to speculate on when we’ll be ready to move forward, since it’s not so much a matter of raising money but making sure all the other pieces are in place,’ stated Ledford. ‘It’s maddening for the fans, but that’s the way it works’”

Taylor: “I’ve just been to Japan pursuing this, […] I think that is the great untold story to the world. It is sublime. It is arguably some of the most beautiful and poignant animation ever created, and a huge percentage of the pop culture world now know it, but only through a live-action feature film will it transcend that and receive the recognition for the art piece that it is.”

Richard Taylor, who views the anime as an exquisite art piece wants this film to be made right — so much so that he himself will guide the production and oversee the entire process.

“Now, actually achieving it as a live-action feature film is extremely difficult to imagine. Technologically, sure, it’s doable. But at an esoteric, universe level, it is an unbelievably impacting and dramatic story concept. [It’s got] pseudo-religious overtones, and all these wonderful motifs are woven into it. It’s something that you can generate over 26 hours of animation, but trying to encapsulate that down into a feature film would be a massive challenge. But … with the right director, I think it could be a very beautiful movie. …And that’s my big pursuit at the moment. I’ve put an awful lot of energy into it.”

With a man like this behind the wheel we should all have some confidence. Taylor is dedicated to the cause and he is unlikely to sell out or make unimaginable blunders as this film is a direct representation of his company. But most importantly he is somebody that loves the original anime; this Evangelion film could still be something great.

“We’ll be blessed just to work on it. But it would be an opportunity for us to look at it at a different level if [Weta helped produce the movie].”

Source: IGN: Weta Head hopes to Co-produce Evangelion
Thanks to Chris Davis and ‘The Dit’

“From Pokémon to Full Metal Panic, the anime industry is doing everything the rest of show biz isn’t: embracing technology, coddling fans—and making a killing.”

Daniel Roth discusses the current state of the anime industry in the west, the approach to piracy, new technology and fanatical otaku. The article centres on John Ledford, CEO of AD Vision; primarily his business strategies, his encounters with fans at his door at 2am and of course, the live action Evangelion movie. The article goes on to mention fan-subbers, the entertainment industry and various ADV acquisitions. In discussing otaku (extreme anime fanatics), Roth gives brief mention of the live action evangelion situation:

“Since 2003 [Ledford’s] been shopping the idea of making a live-action version of Neon Genesis Evangelion, […] Ledford signed on the Weta Companies, […] to come up with plans for what the Evangelion world might look like. But instead of micromanaging the project, Ledford had Weta answer to two Evangelion fanatics at his company.”

Through badgering and extensive communication with Weta it shows that ADV are taking this film very seriously. This isn’t going to be a cheap knock off; ADV simply cannot afford to offend the great majority of their customers. And to that means it seems they want to do things right, with or without Hideaki Anno.

“Richard Taylor, Weta’s co-founder, says he’s never experienced anything quite like it. Twice a week he’d have a conference call with the fans at ADV, sending them renderings of his designs for things like the 100-foot-tall robots and getting in return their encyclopedic take on the interpretations. “These are people who could be considered scholars on the world of Evangelion,” says Taylor. “We had to appease them and find their approval.”

It follows on to mention a meeting between Taylor and a proposed producer at the San Diego Comic-Con in an attempt to ‘jump-start’ the production. Budgeting is also mentioned and it seems ADV has raised $100m of the $120 million they need.

The fans are also making themselves heard – a lot. Even more so than those who enjoyed Lord of the Rings:

“We get a lot of e-mails, a lot of letters from people around the world about Lord of the Rings. But we get 25 e-mails about Evangelion to every one we get about Lord of the Rings,” says Taylor. “And Evangelion has not even been made yet.”

A fan even consulted Taylor during his meeting with the producer, asking whether or not anything was being done about the movie:

Taylor turned to the producer and said, “This is why we have to do this movie.”

Source: Fortune.com
Thanks to Derek

“On August 7 of this year, we informed all of you that the live action adaptation of Evangelion was alive and well, and that the information that we received came from ADV Films David Del Rio.

“This time around, I asked the same question to Matt Greenfield right after the Godannar screening. As we all know, Matt Greenfield is the one that’s heading the live action adaptation project of Evangelion.

“When I ask Matt, he gave me an enthusiastic thumb up, and said “Yes”. He added the he is planning of visiting Weta Workshop to find out what project they’re currently working on, and to see if there are changes to be made while in New Zealand in October.”