partly standalone and separate from his original manga. However, in 2010, Alexandre Aja announced he had purchased its rights, and that he planned to direct a live-action film adaptation of Cobra. Aja was inspired to create this film adaptation because the original manga was one of his childhood favorites. Aja said he wanted to create a "tent pole-sized live action franchise". In 2011, Aja wrote a script with Gregory Levasseur, and production was held by Aton Soumache and Dimitri Rassom under Onyx Films and Studio 37 with a budget of more than $100 million. Later, a teaser poster depicting promotional concept art for Cobra: The Space Pirate, along with a release date scheduled for mid-2013, was unveiled. In September 2013, however, Aja admitted that making the film will be "very hard" since "to do a new kind of Star Wars, [is] expensive" though he stated "we are trying everything, we will make it." In July 2014, Aja revealed it was estimated that the project would require a budget of over $150 million and that he was seeking to have an A-list actor to help attract a funder. One of his main difficulties, Aja said in 2015, was to decide who would star the film: "When I think 'who the heck is going to play that Cobra?', I become unable to move forward." In a June 2016 interview, Aja said he did not abandon it and that "The project is well advanced". Working with the Orange Studio and a group of twenty concept artists, Aja was able "to develop an absolutely huge universe in visual research". One of the drawbacks that made him slow the process was the release of Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014, because Aja had to change several aspects of Cobra to differentiate it. In June 2017, he revealed the script was ready, but commented that another drawback is the big budget required for the film, which finds no funders in the US because the franchise is relatively unknown there. In April 2018, Aja announced the interruption of the film production and revealed it was in preproduction at Lionsgate until a regime change occurred; the company's new staff considered the film budget (US$130 million) to be high and the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens was also a factor on the cancellation. Proposed animated series In 2016, Monaco-based Shibuya Productions announced it would adapt the Rugball