Guillermo Del Toro And JJ Abrams Are Joining Forces For ZANBATO

According to the folks over at Collider, Guillermo del Toro - Oscar winner, man of a thousand gestating projects and executive producer of this year's highly anticipated Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark - has just signed with JJ Abrams' Bad Robot to write and direct a movie called Zanbatō.

What's it about? Here's Collider with the news:

"Plot details remain under wraps, but sources say that Zanbato centers around a young girl (between 10-15) with lethal fighting skills — think Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass or the title character in Alita: Battle Angel."

Collider goes on to say that their original source on this matter descrbed the film as a "ninja" movie, but shortly after the site's report went live, del Toro himself took to Twitter to clarify: it's "NOT a ninja project." This means that, as of this writing, all we really know about Zanbatō is that it's a movie Guillermo del Toro will write and direct for Bad Robot, and that it'll center around a lethal young woman.

As you all know, a "zanbatō" is (pretending not to look at Wikipedia) an especially large, single-edged sword dating to the Heian period of historical Japan. Translated, its name means either (definitely not glancing at Wikipedia again) "horse-slaying sword" or "horse-chopping sabre" - a fitting name, given that it was carried by anti-cavalry infantry. So, basically: it's a big, wide-bladed sword. Does that tell us anything about del Toro's film? No, not necessarily. But at least now we all know what a Zanbatō is.

Nothing further to report at this time, but obviously we're curious to learn more, and will keep you updated as further information rolls in. Stay tuned.

(Note: Header photo by Gage Skidmore used w/ permission via Wikimedia Commons)