After surpassing five million subscribers and being purchased from AT&T by Funimation, Crunchyroll has been in a prime position to sponsor an impressive array of anime productions. Now, Crunchyroll is setting up what seems to be their biggest original product yet, as they will be collaborating with Zoe Saldana's Cinestar Pictures for the anime epic space opera Dark Star Squadron.
Cinestar Pictures is a production company created by Zoe Saldana as well as her sisters Cicely and Mariel Saldana. The company is currently most notable for its involvement in an NBC miniseries adaptation of the influential classic Rosemary's Baby, in which Zoe Saldana starred as Rosemary Woodhouse. Dark Star Squadron will be the first animated production of any kind made with the involvement of Cinestar Pictures.
According to Crunchyroll, Dark Star Squadron is about a group of four delinquent space cadets who steal a starship only to return to their academy and discover that everyone else has vanished, leading them on a quest to find their colleagues. Todd Ludy, a writer on the Netflix hit Voltron: Legendary Defender, will be writing alongside Zoe Saldana, with all three Saldana sisters serving as executive producers. Dark Star Squadron isn't the only Crunchyroll Original waiting in the wings. Crunchyroll has been collaborating with Adult Swim on the swashbuckling anime series Fena: Pirate Princess, which is set to premiere on the channel at midnight on August 14th. Other Crunchyroll Originals yet to be released include Meiji Gekken: Sword & Gun, Freak Angels, and the controversial American series High Guardian Spice.
The medium of anime has garnered an increasing amount of attention from major figures in Hollywood. From a greenlit adaptation of Made in Abyss by Sony Pictures Entertainment to high-profile anime feature films such as The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, the medium feels more alive and awash with possibilities than it has ever been before. If Crunchyroll, Zoe Saldana, and her production company Cinestar Pictures are able to achieve success with Dark Star Squadron, then it is likely that more anime collaborations involving big stars will emerge in the years following its release.
At this time, one of Crunchyroll's most notable projects so far has been a series based on the South Korean manhwa Tower of God. More examples of Crunchyroll Originals including the likes of The God of High School, In/Spectre, Onyx Equinox, and So I'm a Spider, So What?.
Dark Star Squadron is currently in development.
Source: Crunchyroll