In the interview, Chou went on to say, “there is a lot of paperwork to clear, but once that’s resolved, I think it would be on the fast track, so we’re hoping that it’ll start moving even next year.
“Right now we’re with a producer and a studio that really understands beyond the whole mecha impact.” Chou added, “They’re really looking beyond that, and really looking at drama, human elements, even to those elements that appeal to otaku.” He also added another reason the movie was pushed back was due to the anime market crash, but it seems that things are looking better, and thus a better environment for this movie to come out.

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Ohayocon attendee Chris Adkins has been in touch to inform us that the studio discussions and fight for final rights of the Evangelion adaptation properties are in the midst of taking place, with everything still going ahead given the success of that other big robot movie, Transformers. Joseph Cho is in charge of the the Gainax/Studio relations and Matt Greenfield is hoping for some official announcements sometime in the next 9 months.

The News: In an Evangelion panel at the Ohayocon anime convention in Columbus, Ohio on January 30th, ADV director Matt Greenfield announced that several U.S. studios are competing for final rights to the project, meaning that actual production should begin soon. The delay on the project is due largely to the Transformers movie: The studios wanted to make sure that a “giant robot” movie would appeal to an American audience. The negotiations between the U.S. studios and Gainax are being handled by Joseph Cho, who assisted in the production of “Appleseed: Ex Machina”, an animated film based on the Appleseed series, so Mr. Cho has previous experience in dealing with studio types.

Matt Greenfield estimates that an official announcement, including naming the studio, the director, and perhaps casting information, would be made within the next 9 months.

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