Alexandre Aja to Develop COBRA - THE SPACE PIRATE Film

Alexandre Aja is currently prepping up to unleash his new film Piranha 3D onto the world, and looks like a hall of a lot of fun! Now it looks like he's got his next film project lined up and ready to rock and roll! The film will be based on a Japanese manga and animated series called Cobra - The Space Pirate. I've never seen the animated series or read the manga, unfortunatley it wasn't really that big of a property here in America. 

Aja's plans are to turn this saga into an epic tent pole-sized live action movie franchise. He is going to write the script with Gregory Levasseur. This will be Aja's first sci-fi fantasy film, since his first film, High Tension, in 2003 he's he's been directing horror films such as The Hills Have Eyes, Mirrors and Piranha 3D.

Aja talked to Deadline about the new film project, and here's what he had to say:

I grew up dreaming about Cobra. My day was, finish school, run home and switch on the TV and I was hardly the only one. Kids did it in France, Italy, Spain, all over Western Europe. For many people there is Star Wars and nothing else, but for me and my writing partner Gregory, there is Star Wars andCobra. I am so surprised it never crossed the ocean and made the same impact in the U.S., because it is so big everywhere else. There are 60 books, a lot of TV animation and so many adventures, pirates and bad guys that it is perfect to be reinvented into a really cool space opera adventure franchise for a new generation.

Aja is currently trying to secure financiers, and he's also talking to creature designers from film like Avatar and Star Trek. He goes on to say that the film should be shot in 3D, and that he plans on building this world the "right way."

The space-oprera manga was  written and illustrated by Buichi Terasawa of the Black Sheep studio, originally appeared in serialized form in the Japanese shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1978 to 1984.

The series follows the adventures of Cobra who lived an ordinary life until enemies started to hunt him down. Cobra surgically alters his face, and erases his own memory to hide from his enemies. Cobra starts to regain his memories and then unites with his old partner Lady Armaroid and his ship Tortuga. Later in his adventures, Cobra meets the Royal sisters whose map-tattoos lead to treasure.

This sounds like it could make for a great film!

Here's a full description of the Plot from Wiki:

Johnson, a worker for a futuristic trading company, got woken up on a Sunday morning by his robotic maid, Ben. Ben suggested that Johnson go to the Trip Movie Corporation (T.M. Company), a company that lets its guests experience a dream as if it were real. Johnson asked to be the king of Harlem, surrounded by beautiful women, and commanding a battlestar. In his dream, Johnson as "Cobra" explored space with his partner Lady Armaroid. Cobra wielded the "Psychogun" and fought off monsters from other planets and most of all the Pirate Guild, the leader being Captain Vaiken whom he let loose. Vaiken distributed Cobra's picture to all the other pirates making him a wanted man. When the dream ended a woman asked Johnson how the dream was, Johnson responding, and the woman correcting to the fact it should have been about him being the king of Harlem.

On Johnson's way back home, he crashed into a man speeding in his car. He recognized the man, who looked identical to Captain Vaiken. Johnson started explaining how he looked like Vaiken right in front of him, thus making Vaiken think he knew something about Cobra. Johnson unconsciously lifted his right arm as if he had a gun. Johnson shot a ray out of his hand, killing Vaiken. The shot blew up his arm, revealing the Psycho-gun. Johnson hurried back home, where Ben noticed his arm and Johnson realized that he did not remember anything from the last three years that he had lived in his house. Johnson looked into a mirror, which he turned a nob to reveal a secret room behind it, which he looked inside to see his revolver which he used in his dream. Lady Armaroid came out from hiding within Ben. Johnson started to remember more, and at that moment many people were recruited by the Pirate Guild to come in and kill Johnson. Johnson killed the recruited people and started to remember that he is Cobra and he was wanted by the Pirate Guild and he was sick of fighting them off. In order to get away from them, Cobra surgically altered his face and had his memories erased. Lady Armariod told Cobra that Trip Movie triggered his sub-conscious and instead brought back old memories. Once more, Lady Armaroid and Cobra set off to all the adventures that come forth.

Cobra later meets Jane Royal, one of the Royal sisters, in a bar. Jane Royal teams up with Cobra and Lady to find the other two Royal sisters, whose tattoo maps lead to the greatest treasure in the whole universe.

Here is the first episode of the animated series for you to check out: