Oh wow! Straight up, nine-year-old me is freaking out right now! My cousin and I used to gorge ourselves on the ULTRAMAN series, back in the day. From what I can recall, the Japanese superhero was battling kaiju and giant robots long before the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers came along, by starring in his own television series, ULTRAMAN: THE ALIEN INVASION, in addition to several films and much, much more. According to The Hollywood Reporter, U.S. transmedia producer Starlight Runner Entertainment has been tapped by Tokyo-based Tsuburaya Productions to reboot the Ultraman mythology for stateside audiences, for a plan that includes a possible relaunch of the mega-popular live-action TV series. All the way back in 1966, the original live-action offerings, ULTRA Q and ULTRAMAN, focused on a highly-advance police force and their ace-in-the-hole, Ultraman. Together, the tech-savvy law enforcement outfit and Ultraman battled alien invaders and giant monsters to protect the Earth from total destruction and enslavement.
While Ultraman might not be as well known to the masses as say, the Avengers, the character created by Eiji Tsuburaya, Tohl Narita, and Akira Sasaki has been kicking ass in Japan since arriving alongside his human counterpart Shin Hayata in the 1966-67 Japanese television series. From that point forward, Ultraman has remained a titan of Japanese pop culture by starring in countless TV series, movies, video games and much, much more. Most recently, the character starred in ULTRAMAN X THE MOVIE (2016), ULTrAMAN ORB THE MOVIE and ULTRAMAN GEED THE MOVIE, marking the martial arts robot's 29th film adventure.
As a part of the effort to reboot the character for a brand-new audience, Tsuburaya and the Starlight Runner team will partner with The Licensing Group to re-introduce Ultraman across several platforms.
"Ultraman is one of my greatest childhood heroes. We’re honored to be embarking on this mission to bring this family of characters back to the world stage," said Starlight Runner CEO Jeff Gomez in a statement.
Alright, now that you've got all of the information that you need, I'm going to call my cousin Daniel to tell him the good news. He and I used to watch ULTRAMAN relentlessly, while sleeping over at my grandparent's house. Perhaps we'll get together for the character's stateside premiere, and reminisce about simpler times. You know, before all of the adulting we've got to do now affixed its stranglehold on our tender throats.