It seems like a broad variety of video game franchises are being given the movie treatment, for better and for worse. This has been the case for a long time, though it has ramped up in the last two years.

Naturally we're waiting and hoping to see Nintendo get involved, but an announcement out of Japan is sure to please fans of a certain age - the Klonoa franchise is being turned into an animated movie.

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Image: Henshin

As reported by Variety, Henshin - a US-based animation production company - is leading the project. Announced in Tokyo, it was confirmed that the producer will be Rob Pereyda and Hitoshi Ariga will write the script. Pereyda has worked with Bandai Namco in the past, while Ariga-san has extensive experience working on Pokémon manga, the Trading Card Game and even some new Pocket Monster designs.

Not much detail has emerged aside from that, though this could be the start of an attempt by Bandai Namco to revive the series. It's a franchise admired by plenty of enthusiasts; from a Nintendo perspective we had the excellent Klonoa: Empire of Dreams and Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament on Game Boy Advance, while the Klonoa remake on Wii was also an enjoyable game.

It'll be interesting to see how this project progresses in the coming months.

With thanks to Benson for the heads up.

[source variety.com]