Director Alexandre Aja confirmed that the "Cobra" live-action movie, based on Buichi Terasawa's manga series, is still in development.
In 2011, Aja was enlisted to direct a big-budget, live-action French film adaptation of "Space Adventure Cobra." It was previously reported that the "Cobra" live-action movie was originally slated for a 2013 release.
"It's a huge, huge project. Super expensive. Like $150 million-plus," the director told Cinema Blend. "It can only be done with a major movie star and most of them are not available for like five years. So we're still working and trying to make it happen."
Paris-based film production and distribution firms Onyx and Studio 37 announced their plan to produce the "Cobra" live-action movie with a budget of over $100 million. Producers Aton Soumache and Dimitri Rassom as well as co-producers Alexandra Milchan and Gregory Levasseur, and executive producers Marc Sessego and Andree Cornier are part of the film's production.
"Although I am happy I was able to acquire the film rights, production cost is enormous, and deciding the cast is also difficult," Aja told Japanese entertainment news site Crank in an interview.
"When I think, 'who the heck is going to play that Cobra?' I become unable to move forward."
Aja also admitted that, even though the project is tough, they are definitely making progress. The script for the "Cobra" live-action movie was written by him and Gregory Levasseur.
Buichi Terasawa's "Cobra" manga was initially published in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 1978. It was adapted into television in the early 80s. "Space Adventure Cobra" became popular globally especially in France.
"Cobra" is about a pirate fighting space bounty hunter with a Psycho-gun laser arm named Jean-Paul Belmondo. He is a bored office worker who pays to experience a customized dream. Although he initially asked to be the king of a harem, the dream he gets places him in the middle of an adventure.
