Evangelion the Motion Picture (lost test footage for cancelled live-action adaptation; 2003-2011)

Concept art for the cancelled film

Status: Lost

Evangelion the Motion Picture was the tentative title for a cancelled live action adaptation of Neon Genesis Evangelion, a cult classic 1995-6 anime directed by Hideaki Anno and produced by Gainax with animation from Tatsunoko Productions. The original story begins as a standard '90s mecha anime, following the 14 year-old Shinji Ikari as he becomes the unwilling pilot of a giant robot known as an Evangelion. He battles monstrous, Kaiju-like creatures known as Angels to prevent their destruction of humanity at the cost of his mental stability. The plot of Evangelion soon devolves into experimental psychological drama that comes to envelop the anime, the main motivator in its critical acclaim and cult status.

Development

The live-action project began in February of 2003, when ADV Films (AKA AD Vision who were, at the time, the English-language distributor for Neon Genesis Evangelion) acquired a legal agreement with Gainax which allowed for "the possible development, production, financing and exploitation of at least three live-action theatrical motion pictures, five television programs and three direct-to-video movies products (each a "Project")." It is unknown what became of the TV and direct-to-video items in this agreement, no concept material is known to exist.

The film was then announced at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival during the Buyer's Market, a private event for industry networking. It was to be a joint production between ADV Films, Gainax and Weta Workshop - a special effects company notable for their work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy, among other projects. On May 21st 2003, following reports of this announcement, ADV Films issued a press release to confirm the project's existence, stating that they "[had] already begun development" of the planned live action feature-film.

"That was all B.S.[...] That was in somebody's fever dreams." - Tiffany Grant, English voice actor for 'Asuka'

Development hell plagued the project early on. Though concept art was released, no cast, crew or screenplay ever came to fruition. Tiffany Grant, voice actor for the ADV dub of Neon Genesis Evangelion and ex-wife of ADV founder Matt Greenfield, stated that "no one was ever approved" for cast or crew. As of 2005, the project had "raised about half of the $100 million to $120 million" that had been estimated for the budget. Robin Williams (a fan of Neon Genesis Evangelion) had assisted in pre-production by lending support to a pitch package developed by ADV to court investors. He is apparently featured in a video where he talks about the anime. Another item in this pitch package is some test footage.

It is unknown what is included in the test footage and it has never been released. However, there are various rumours that have been spread around over the years. Some state that the test footage is CGI footage of the Evangelions and that Robin Williams is featured in the video playing the character 'Gendo Ikari', though this may just be confusion between the other videos in the package.

Other lost material includes further concept work from Weta Workshop. Greg Broadmore, a Weta artist on the project, claims "the conceptual work that ADV released was the tip of the iceberg." There are more pieces of concept art that cover "character designs, concepts for the Evangelion, the control room for the military organization Nerv, and even some idea of what the antagonist, the giant mythical beasts known as Angels, would look like in the movie."

2008-9 was the point in time where it became increasingly clear to fans that Evangelion the Motion Picture was not going to be finished. As a result of the increasingly dwindling American Anime market, ADV Films lost a large chunk of its distribution catalogue to its main competitor, Funimation. After this, the company collapsed, liquidating its assets. Today, ADV exists in name only and 5 separate companies exist to hold its assets.

"It's a sad thing that it hasn't happened yet, but obviously fingers-crossed." - Richard Taylor, head of Weta Workshop

Cancellation

With ADV Films in significant trouble, financial backing became harder and harder to find. The project fell into limbo, despite repeated assurance from producers that the film was still in the works.

The nail in the coffin came in 2011 when ADV films sued Gainax after the animation studio had refused to renew ADV's rights to create live-action Evangelion projects. Gainax claimed that there were "implied conditions" that ADV were not meeting to continue holding the rights and that they "had a right to veto the financing if they found it to be unacceptable."

After this debacle, it can be safely said that Evangelion the Motion Picture is dead. Further issues include Gainax's own financial troubles. In short, Gainax is a drastically downsized studio from what it was in the '90s. Additionally, it has lost the rights to Evangelion to Studio Khara, director Hideaki Anno's studio, who have released a series of animated feature-film reboots/sequels called the Rebuild of Evangelion.

Gallery

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  'Kate Rose' (AKA 'Asuka') - this character's name stirred controversy amongst fans

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  'Susan Whitnall' (AKA 'Misato Katsuragi') - another controversial name change

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  Eva Unit 00 going berserk

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  'New City' concepts

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  The flooded 'New City'

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  An Evangelion suspended in liquid

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  The NERV HQ command room

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  The side profile of Eva Unit 01's head

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  The side profile of Eva Unit 02

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  Eva Unit 00

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  'Cube Angel' (AKA 'Ramiel')

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  The attack of 'Cube Angel'

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  Eva Unit 02 looks at 'New City' from a distance

See Also

• Shinji and Good Friends (found "Neon Genesis Evangelion" PC tie-in games; 1999)
• City of Houston (found unreleased "Evangelion" AIDS PSA for American city; 1999)
• Evangelion: 3.33 You Can (Not) Redo (found first FUNimation theatrical dub of anime film; 2013)