Source: MechWarrior movie 'in development' at Eisner's Tornante

Back in the pre-Joystiq days of 2003, cavemen spoke of preliminary plans for a MechWarrior movie, to be produced by Dean "Oops, I made Godzilla" Devlin who referred to the opportunity as "a real passion project" ... about giant robots. Of course, we know nothing ever came of that passion; however, with a reboot on the horizon, another MechWarrior film is "in development" at former Disney chief (and apparent Robot Jox fanboy) Michael Eisner's The Tornante Company, a trusted source told Joystiq.

Eisner owned the rights to the franchise through a series of acquisitions, series creator Jordan Weisman told Gamasutra last month: "WizKids bought FASA, and then Topps bought WizKids, and then [Michael] Eisner bought Topps." Perhaps seeing an opportunity to capitalize on the upcoming video game, our source tells us that a movie is "in development" and that the writer is one Mr. Michael Gordon, credited with screenplays for 300, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and an "in development" EverQuest movie.

As great as that sounds, a potential cloud may be looming over the production, with Robotech co-owners Harmony Gold sending cease-and-desist letters to outlets hosting the teaser trailer for the latest MechWarrior game, claiming some of the 'bots are a little too similar to Robotech's own. It remains to be seen if Harmony Gold will extend its claim to any film adaptation.