I was among the many who had not heard of COBRA THE SPACE PIRATE when it was announced that Alexandre Aja would be adapting the popular Japanese manga/animated series for the big screen last August. That doesn’t mean I’m any less excited about Aja taking on something a little different, and a rambunctious space opera sounds like just the ticket. (Although even while toiling away within the horror genre, Aja has proven he’s able to switch tone deftly with each movie.)
A poster has begun to pop up for COBRA (if you visit Variety frequently, you’ve seen it jump out of nowhere), which is already evidently in the pre-production phase and is gearing up for some sales action at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. The release date is currently Summer 2013, so we’re some time away from seeing it. That said, we can still get psyched about the adventure, can’t we?
The story follows a space pirate named Cobra who refuses to align with either the United Galaxies Federation or the Pirates Guild, which results in a huge bounty being placed on his head. Hoping to stay one foot ahead of his captors, Cobra teams up with another bounty hunter named Jane who is searching for her sisters in order to decode a treasure map that has been tattooed onto their backs. Together, Cobra and Jane hope to secure a lost treasure hidden somewhere on Mars.
Paris-based Onyx Films will be co-producing the film, which is budgeted at $100 million, with Studio 37.