First Look: Footage From Abandoned CGI ‘Thundercats’ Movie
Five years ago, Warner Brothers was thinking of taking the cult 1980s cartoon seriesThundercatsand developing it for the big screen. They had a director, a script and everything. But now it’s 2011 and while there’s abrand newThundercatstelevisionseriescoming soon, the movie never saw the light of day. There’s evidence a lot of work was done on the project though.Movielinereleased some concept art from the abandoned film in 2009 and nowFlixisthas now found some footage that looks just like those images. Connecting the dots, it seems like this is test footage fromtheThundercatsmoviethat will never be.Thundercatsfans are going to want to check this out. And you may, after the jump.Thanks to Flixist(with a heads up toBleeding Cool) for the footage. Check out those concept images onMovieline as well.
After watching that footage, I’m kind of glad this movie didn’t get made. No offense to the animators. I think the footage itself, of a young Lion-O battling Slithe, looks very fluid and impressive. But what I loved aboutThundercatswas watching the whole team, in their prime, dealing with the villains. The last thing I wanted to see was an origin story with all the characters not looking how I remember them until the very end of the movie. And though the cartoon series is supposed to be an origin as well, at least it’s in smaller doses and the sequels come every week. With a movie, there’s never a guarantee you’ll get to see the second part.
What do you think about this footage? Do you think it look legit or more like a really talented fan who slapped on a WB logo? Do you think theThundercatswill ever see the big screen or are they better suited to television?
