Big Hero 6 (unreleased 2005 DreamWorks/Glass Ball film)

Big Hero 6 is an unreleased computer-animated superhero film produced by Glass Ball Productions in co-production with DreamWorks Animation, based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. Set to be released around Christmas 2005, it was being written and directed by Geo G. with a script co-written by James Gunn, and is unrelated to the 2014 Walt Disney Animation Studios film of the same name, although it has a similar storyline.

Glass Ball Productions started developing an animated film based on the Big Hero 6 comics from Marvel Comics in 1999 when they had acquired the film rights and got the license from Marvel Entertainment. It was originally set to be co-produced by VerniX Animation Studios and distributed by Universal Pictures for a Christmas 2002 release.

Unfortunately, due to the poor box office performance of The Autism Problem (2001), VerniX dropped the project and the film would be instead co-developed at DreamWorks, in which whom Glass Ball signed an agreement in 2000. In addition, Glass Ball delayed the release date to 2005.

However, in early 2004, the project was abandoned by DreamWorks due to script problems. The project was later moved to Walt Disney Animation Studios and was released on November 7, 2014, ten years after the cancellation of the DreamWorks/Glass Ball film. It was met with both critical and commercial success, grossing over $657 million worldwide and becoming the highest-grossing animated film of 2014.

Had this film been released, it would have been the second co-production between DreamWorks Animation and Glass Ball Productions and the first animated theatrical film based on a Marvel comic. In fact, this would have also been the first (and presumably the only) DreamWorks film to feature Marvel Comics characters.

Premise
Like the 2014 released Disney film, it would have retain some of the core themes and character concepts from the comics, but makes substantial changes and builds a new story around them. It would revolve around Hiro, a 13-year-old boy genius who created Baymax; after the death of his parents, he forms a superhero team called Big Hero 6 to fight the villain who killed Hiro's parents. That storyline is completely different from the comic series and the Disney film, though the Disney film has some similar elements from the unproduced DreamWorks film.

Cast
Like some of Geo G/Glass Ball's films, the cast was to be a combination of celebrity actors and veteran voice actors.
 * Jason Marsden as Hiro
 * Tara Strong as Honey Lemon
 * Debi Derryberry as GoGo Tomago
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Baymax
 * Phil LaMarr as Wasabi-No-Ginger
 * Rob Paulsen as Fred
 * Tim Curry as Shikra
 * George Takei as Neki

Universal/VerniX era (1999–2001)
In June 1999, Glass Ball Productions announced that they had bought the rights for the Big Hero 6 comic book series from Marvel Comics to make an animated film. Geo G. was attached to direct the film from the script by himself, while Universal Pictures would distribute the film, set for a 2001 release. Geo also said that the film was expected to see a PG-13 rating, like most live-action Marvel films.

In February 2000, VerniX Animation Studios later joined the project to co-produce it as a computer-animated film, with Michael Wildshill producing. Expected to be the second feature from VerniX after The Autism Problem, Universal eventually moved the release date to Christmas 2002. However, VerniX dropped the project due to the box office failure of The Autism Problem, but Wildshill was still able to produce the film and Universal was kept in. Eventually, VerniX was later shut down in February 2002 until Geo LTD. Animation re-opened and acquired the VerniX studio ten years later. In April 2001, James Gunn was hired to do the re-writes for the script.

DreamWorks era (2001–04)
Glass Ball announced in an official press release on August 19, 2001 that Big Hero 6 would not be developed with Universal. Instead, it would be developed with DreamWorks (now DreamWorks Animation), whom Glass Ball entered an agreement in November 2000 that would enable Glass Ball to produce five films, including Niz Chicoloco, Big Hero 6, and BJ and Wally, in per year with DreamWorks handling the production of the films.

As Universal removed the film from its planned Christmas 2002 release schedule, Big Hero 6 was to be instead released by DreamWorks Pictures sometime in 2004. By May 2002, the first draft was completed. In September 2002, DreamWorks changed the date to 2005. The release date change was the same day DreamWorks changed the release date of Niz Chicoloco, from November 2003 to December 2004, thus pushing Big Hero 6 to 2005. In March 2003, the film's cast was announced. Designers Craig Kellman, Carter Goodrich, and Shane Prigmore were hired to work on the character development of the film.

Cancellation and legacy
On March 7, 2004, DreamWorks announced that the production of Big Hero 6 was ultimately shut down, due to having problems with script. Geo, who was unhappy about this, said about the film's cancellation, "The story wasn't working that right. We're out of ideas now, so we killed Big Hero 6." Not only because Big Hero 6 was suffering script issues, but it is also because they needed more time to work on Niz Chicoloco.

Eight years later after DreamWorks and Glass Ball cancelled Big Hero 6, Walt Disney Animation Studios announced they were in development with Marvel to make a film of Big Hero 6, which was released on November 7, 2014.

In September 2014, just two months before Disney's Big Hero 6 premiered in theaters, Geo G. uploaded the first draft of his unproduced Big Hero 6 film, revealing the full plot for the cancelled film. In addition, Geo also uploaded concept art, character artwork, storyboards, as well as animation tests for his scrapped Big Hero 6 project.

Video game
There was a video game planned for release alongside the film. Going by the same name as the film, it was planned to be an action-adventure game. It was planned to be released around 2005, and the hopes were pretty high for the game. However, as the film faded into obscurity, so did the video game. No screenshots or video of gameplay were ever released.

Trivia
Coming soon!