After the long-standing suspension of the production of the Gainax anime film “Uru in Blue” a.k.a. “Aoki Uru”, president Hiroyuki Yamaga has announced as of Friday, that the film would finally begin production this month.
It was in 1992 that plans for the film had begun and Gainaz began collaborating with director Hideaki Anno, best known for his work on the mecha series “Neon Genesis Evangelion”, writer Hiroyuki Yamaga, and executive producer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, both whom have worked on “Wings of Honneamise.”
However, the year after, the project ended up being suspended yet news of its revivals popped up in the years of 1998, 2001, and 2013. There was even a release of a CD-ROM titled “Uru in Blue Frozen Designs Collection” featuring the mechanical, character, and background designs, fighter planes designed by Masamune Shirow and Kazutaka Miyatake, including Yamaga’s original screenplay.
Then in 2014, Yamaga finally confirmed that the film would be set for 2018. When the news was released, it was announced that a short entitled “Overture” would be making an appearance in 2014 but was delayed for 2015 and ended up not even airing until now.
Following these suspensions and delays was a legal issue wherein Studio Khara had filed a lawsuit in December over delayed payments on royalties on works and properties that Khara founder and Gainax co-founder Hideaki Anno had worked on.
As of Friday a judge at the Tokyo District Court’s Tachikawa Branch ordered Gainax to pay Studio Khara 100 million yen (about US$899,000).
When the lawsuit had been filed, Yamaga had posted an apology to all parties involved and for the cause of concern on the Gainax website. He had stated that company was undergoing restructuring, but the plan was to once again put project production at the center of its business. Most recently he even apologized for the “news of the trial results” and so far is imploring for the support of involved parties for continuation of the film.
So far it is confirmed that Yamaga is writing and directing the project with designs by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, who has previously worked with him on the production of the film “Royal Space Force – The Wings of Honnêamise” in 1987.
Source: AnimeNewsNetwork