Last February, Warner Bros. announced that a live-action Robotech was under development. The studio was eyeing Andy Muschietti (Shadow of the Colossus, Mama) to direct the film. Now comes word that rights to the popular anime series have moved over to Sony Pictures.

Variety says the studio hopes to move forward with Gianni Nunnari and Mark Canton (300, The Immortals) as producers, and with Michael Gordon (300, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) writing the script. No word yet on if the studio is still considering Muschietti as director. The project will be overseen at Sony Pictures by Sony Pictures Entertainment Group President Doug Belgrad, Columbia Pictures Production Chief Michael De Luca, and Sony Pictures Vice President of Creative Production Matthew Milam.

After undergoing various stages of development, the long-gestating Robotech is being brought back to life over at Warner Bros.

Based on the anime of the same name, Robotech was first launched in the 1980s in Japan, and was eventually adapted for a US audience by Frank Agrama and Harmony Gold. In the series, humans have adapted alien technology found on the South Pacific Isle, and used it to create giant fighting machines, often referred to as Mecha. These mecha defend Earth from the waves of extraterrestrial threats.

Hit the jump to see who Warner Bros. is eyeing to direct the adaptation.

The Station Agent and Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage is set to star in The Thicket, an adaptation of the crime thriller of the same name from author Joe Lansdale.

The movie is set in early 1900s East Texas and follows a young man who’s searching for his sister, who was kidnapped by a vicious killer. To help him in his search, he hires a crafty bounty hunter named Shorty (Dinklage), the “grave-digging alcoholic son of an ex-slave and a street-smart prostitute.”

Cinephiles have followed visionary director Tarsem Singh‘s stunning visual spectacles for years in films like The Cell and The Fall. As a fan of his films, my only regret has been that as an indie director his work has been somewhat overlooked by mainstream audiences. With Immortals being produced by the producers of 300, Tarsem finally has the opportunity to helm a true tentpole epic.

At the Immortals panel today at San Diego Comic-Con 2011 included Tarsem, 300 producers Mark Canton and Gianni Nunnari, and cast members Freida Pinto as the Oracle, Stephen Dorff as Stavros, Luke Evans as Zeus, Kellan Lutz as Poseidon, and (future Superman) Henry Cavill as Theseus.

Tarsem revealed that the actual film is quite darker in tone than recent ads have revealed.

Footage shown was an amazing visual feast for the eyes. Imagine a cross between 300, Spartacus: Blood & Sand, or Troy, but completely in 3D, and on an exponentially more epic scale. Diamond arrows, golden armor, and thousands of warriors shed blood across the screen in terrific stylized slow motion.