Once again, H.G. Wells’ classic invasion tale, The War of the Worlds, is being retold in a different format. This time the story is the inspiration for War of the Worlds: Goliath — an animated film that gives the Martian tripods and Earth’s defense forces a steampunk-ish makeover.
Director Joe Pearson provided the following synopsis:
It’s an R rated, retro-history, steam-punk epic set in 1914, fourteen years after the first failed Martian invasion. Mankind has rebuilt her cities and military by adapting a lot of the abandoned Martian technology. They’ve created an international defense force, A.R.E.S., based on the lower end of Manhattan and under the command of Theaodore Roosevelt. They’ve built a formidable force centered around giant, steam-powered battle tripods [such as the sub-titular Goliath]. Think of Band of Brothers meets Star Wars, meets World WO. It will be cool steam-powered battle tripods, doomed Cossack cavalry charges, Victorian decco, steam-punk Manhattan, 1500-foot-long armored battle zeppelins, Teddy Roosevelt, souped up tri-planes, blood on steaming metal, sex in the cockpit… the usual.”
WotW: Goliath‘s budget is around $3 million, and the film is envisaged as a sequel to the novel by H.G. Wells. Originally intended to be part of a series of Heavy Metal videos, it is being co-produced by Kevin Eastman (owner of Heavy Metal).
Check out these cool production images of the tripods and the homeland defense vehicles:
For more images and an extended description of the project, see the production blog and also the Heavy Metal Magazine Fan page.
- Source: via Kaiju Search-Robot Avery
- Update: See the trailer.