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Mass Effect Movie Deal Signed

Published on 8th April 2011 by David Hing

The movie takes place in the Mass Effect universe, but it's not known if Shepard will appear yet.

BioWare's sprawling sci-fi RPG Mass Effect franchise is being made into an anime feature film.

The EA-owned studio is teaming up with FUNimation Entertainment, the leading distributor of Japanese animation in North America, in order to create the film.

Executive producer of the series, Casey Hudson, said: 'We have revealed different pieces of the Mass Effect world through different media. Extending the story through an anime medium is another amazing opportunity for us.'

The anime is said to be based on the Mass Effect universe, but neither party has confirmed whether the film will follow Commander Shepard and the plot of the games. However, FUNimation has said that the anime will be exploring 'a new chapter to this vast sci-fi world.'

CEO and President of FUNimation, Gen Fukunaga, said: 'It is thanks to the enormous and passionate Mass Effect fan base that this movie is made possible.'

This news follows the announcement made in June 2010 that BioWare and FUNimation were also about to begin work on an anime adaptation of Dragon Age.

Production of the film has already begun and it's scheduled for release in summer 2012.

Is Mass Effect the new Star Wars or just another throwaway space opera? Apprehensive or excited about the potential for an anime film set in the Mass Effect universe? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.

30 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

SMIFFYDUDE 8th April 2011, 13:25

I don't see it as an anime film. more of a tv series starring a kevin sorbo like actor.

mi1ez 8th April 2011, 13:39

I hope we're talking more Akira than Spirited Away...

Krikkit 8th April 2011, 13:48

If it's going to be animé then perhaps it will be decent. Wouldn't count on it just yet though.

Think happy thoughts of ME3.

TWeaK 8th April 2011, 14:00

If FUNimation are involved I wouldn't set my hopes up... Why would they go to a *distributor* rather than the actual anime makers??

DwarfKiller 8th April 2011, 14:21

I'll hold my judgements for now. FUNimation can be hit and miss.

javaman 8th April 2011, 14:22

Leave our games alone!! Let a 3D animation company take it over and with the same writers of the game. Us the game engine or an advanced version, do the MGS thing or heavy rain only remove all control from the viwer to make it a film. Don't let hollywood or "film artists" get their hooks into this. the fan base has been amazing because they've remained true and used different styles to show this. Films designed for an audience often forget the loyal fan base that made the game popular in the first place.

Tangster 8th April 2011, 15:16

No! Not anime crap.Please...
If you're going to do ME animation something then get Blur to do it and get a decent sci-fi writer. Additionally it should avoid having any of the major characters in it.

llamafur 8th April 2011, 15:46

The first thing I think of when I hear ME2 and anime together, is cheesy and boring. If you're going to make a video game into a movie wouldn't it be easier to use the existing engine, textures and models to make it?

Aterius Gmork 8th April 2011, 16:22

As long as it doesn't have a male heroic Sheppard appearing... because as we all know Sheppard is the queen bitch of the universe, not some bald obeying idiot. ;)

The_EXorcist 8th April 2011, 16:26

From Dragon Age you might possibly get a good anime, but Mass Effect... nope, can't be done, please don't do mass effect, you cant get a good movie from it

edzieba 8th April 2011, 16:40

~~Production IG know their stuff (though recently seem more concerned with iffy stereoscopic re-releases of their existing movies than making new series)~~, but the involvement of Funimation? Eeeeh, it's a rare occurrence when they don't screw things up.

Wait, I was sure it IG was listed last time the rumor went around, but turns out T.O. Entertainment is doing the animation. Colour me particularly less enthused.

jimbok11 8th April 2011, 16:44

i saw they've done some CGI version of Warhammer 40k stuff...looked ok...but it seems that it could've been better...

omicron 8th April 2011, 16:52

Oh christ, animated?
Noooooo...!

Please don't make an anime. Never in the history of mankind has there been an anime that can be judged as a good film, rather than just a good anime. Ten times this when it comes to American anime.
Even the lofty Akira (dub) suffers from having a pretty poor story and by having the same dire voice actors that we've been using since anime made it over here, as well as the same old of including bizarre events, fashions, plot points etc that I suspect make perfect sense in Japan but are just baffling elsewhere in the world...

Don't do it, Bioware!

Fizzban 8th April 2011, 17:33

I love anime and I love Mass Effect, so this could be bloody amazing. Notice I said could. Here's hoping they don't ruin it.

overdosedelusion 8th April 2011, 17:36

urgh, if dead space ani's were anything to go by, expect utter tripe. They should keep the games engine but you can't have a commander sheppard in it. Since sheppard was a customisable character down to gender, tailored to the players own liking with powers and tactical choices which tweaked the story.. What are the chances they'd have a sheppard even one person could associate with?

If they're serious about making it, they need to go from a different angle, perhaps expanding on the rachni wars and the genophage?

pendragon 8th April 2011, 17:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fizzban
I love anime and I love Mass Effect, so this could be bloody amazing. Notice I said could. Here's hoping they don't ruin it.

Fizzban +1 .. This^^^

edit: also .. I too wonder why they didn't approach a company like AniMax which has/is done/doing 3 different Marvel mini series .. but my best guess on that is likely that Bioware and Funimation are both US-based ..easier than international stuff perhaps?

frontline 8th April 2011, 18:14

I was hoping for a 'Thunderbirds' type puppet epic with proper exploding models.

Canon 8th April 2011, 18:30

This is going to suck so hard.

Kiytan 8th April 2011, 23:24

urgh, yeah really can't see this as an anime at all. Shame, as the books (and obviously games) are brilliant.

javaman 9th April 2011, 01:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by frontline
I was hoping for a 'Thunderbirds' type puppet epic with proper exploding models.

lol, I still love thunderbirds xD Still going strong 50years on!

TimB 9th April 2011, 04:56

Didnt Legendary Pictures already buy the films rights? http://www.joystiq.com/2010/05/25/report-mass-effect-movie-rights-obtained-by-legendary-pictures/

Maybe there are seperate rights for live-action and animated?

fluxtatic 9th April 2011, 08:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by omicron
Oh christ, animated?
Noooooo...!

Please don't make an anime. Never in the history of mankind has there been an anime that can be judged as a good film, rather than just a good anime.

I have to disagree. I'm not a huge anime fan, but the original Ghost in the Shell was amazing (if a bit incomprehensible). Also, everything Miyazaki has done has been excellent, imo.

Back to the matter at hand, though, 'new chapter'? Sounds entirely possible that it will be ME in name only. Gamers! Prepare to spend money on name-recognition! Prepare to be filled with nerd rage when the movie has nothing to do with the games!

tad2008 9th April 2011, 11:21

A new chapter sounds interesting, unless it's just another character unlock. Anime over CGI sounds bad, real bad and likely cos of a low budget that reeks of the making of a poor adaptation. That aside am hoping it turns out to be something worth watching.

Ninja_182 10th April 2011, 15:52

Heres to hoping it has lengthy elevator conversations interspersed with watching scanner probes flying at a planet.

Not much faith to be fair. Converting games to films seems to be asking for disaster if the past has anything to go on.

azrael- 10th April 2011, 18:13

*Shudder*

Apache14 10th April 2011, 20:02

wonder if this ill ever surface :|

ZERO <ibis> 10th April 2011, 23:02

FUNimation does not make anime they just make bad dubs and or subs. This is like saying your going to make music so your teaming up with Sony sorry but like FUNimation, Sony just sues people on the internet over things other people made they themselves can not make anything.

Unknownsock 11th April 2011, 09:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by omicron
Oh christ, animated?
Noooooo...!

Please don't make an anime. Never in the history of mankind has there been an anime that can be judged as a good film, rather than just a good anime.

Hmm?

I could say quite a few from the top of my head.

maximus09 11th April 2011, 10:37

Well first of all it WONT be an anime!!! If FUNimation is doing it, they are distrubuters not Japanese animators!! And lets face it they do a pretty bad job of dubbing and subbing as well, a group of teenage boys and girls (fansubbers) produce much higher quality.

If they create an animation it will just be an American animated cartoon, not a Japanese anime!

This may have the unfortunate effect that it will be lame :( But lets hope not!

Yemerich 11th April 2011, 11:47

Tell me this is a nightmare please! A movie? And worst of all an anime?!?!?!

I don't want to see Miranda voiced like a teenager speaking thru a batery radio with that manga like look... I hate those!