Mechagirl

Mechagirl is an upcoming American 3D computer-animated science fiction comedy film produced by 20th Century Animation and released by 20th Century Studios. Directed by Ryan Marshall and produced by Roy Kobayashi and Greg Cunningham, the film is scheduled to be released on April 26, 2024.

Premise
Rakki Fukuda, a teenage girl living in a futuristic Japan, becomes the mech warrior Mechagirl in order to fight against the forces of evil and save Earth.

Cast

 * Kimiko Glenn as Rakki Fukuda / Mechagirl

Production
After finishing work on Cool Spot (2018), executive producer Roy Kobayashi was approached by Fox Animation Century City's CEO Stuart Snyder, presenting him an idea for a new feature film. Kobayashi then brainstormed a proposed concept for a feature; a teenage girl living in a futuristic Japan who tries to blend in with the other anime and manga characters, given the fact that Kobayashi was born Japanese and grew up with anime and manga. Although the initial intention was to have Mike Bell direct the film based on Kobayashi's idea, Bell turned down the offer to direct as he was too busy working on The Pixelators: Level Two (2020) with Emma Maxwell, and his own idea envisioned as a sci-fi space comedy (which eventually became Hyper), and instead passed the project to Ryan Marshall, who had finished directing Sunnie (2017) over at Frenzy Animation. It turned out Marshall, also an anime and manga fan, had been interested in developing a film influenced by anime for a long time since he started working at Fox Animation, stating that the work of Hayao Miyazaki had made him "mind blown and change my life and career forever". He and Kobayashi later wrote a treatment and pitched their concept to Snyder and chief creative officer Lori Forte.

The film was developed under the working title of ''Go! Mecha Squad''. Marshall was announced to work on an upcoming 20th Century Studios animated feature film on July 26, 2020. Very little info about the film was released to the public until October 27, 2021, when it was announced that 20th Century had begun development on an original animated film reportedly titled Mech-Girl, which was being written and directed by Marshall and would pay homage to various Japanese mecha anime and manga.

Further details were revealed a year later during the 2022 D23 Expo Presentation on September 9, 2022, when Snyder, Marshall, and Kobayashi revealed that the film, now officially titled Mechagirl, including its protagonist, a young teenage girl, being named Rakki Fukuda (voiced by Kimiko Glenn), and that the film would be using an advanced art style similar to anime and manga, and would feature a number of other anime references and cameo appearances by anime characters, in a manner similar to Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), the Toy Story series, Wreck-It Ralph (2012) and its sequel Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), The Lego Movie series, and Ready Player One (2018), as well as 20th Century's own The Pixelators series. It was also announced that Casey Crowe and Charlotte Jackson, former writers of the Disney Channel animated series Star vs. the Forces of Evil, joined Marshall to co-write the screenplay, as well as Greg Cunningham co-producing the film with Kobayashi.

Release
Mechagirl is scheduled to be released on April 26, 2024.