Mega Man, the beloved super-fighting robot, is getting a live-action movie.
Apparently, Capcom announced this back in 2018? With Masi Oka (Heroes, Hawaii Five-0, The Meg) serving as co-producer?
I’m trying to remember what I was doing in 2018 because I feel like I would’ve remembered an announcement like this, yet here I am, looking at the words “Mega Man” and “Netflix” in quiet… something.
To be fair, the Netflix aspect was recently mentioned over on Supermarché, the production company of the two in charge of the project, Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. You might recognize Joost and Schulman for their work in the Paranormal Activity franchise (parts 3 and 4) or if you’re tuned into MTV, you might know them from Catfish: The TV Show (which they are executive producers on).
The Netflix mention is here:
Henry, Rel, and their in-house producer Orlee-Rose Strauss maintain an active development slate. Features in the works include: an adaptation of Capcom’s MEGA MAN for Chernin Entertainment and Netflix, which they wrote and are directing; NEMESIS, based on the Mark Millar comic, produced by Jules Daly and Sue Kroll for Warner Bros.; an adaptation of Edward Abbey’s novel THE MONKEY WRENCH GANG, produced by Ed Pressman, which they wrote and are directing; and RUNAWAY, a family adventure comedy based on a true story, screenplay adapted by Brendan O’Brien and produced by Matt Kaplan.
Their description of the upcoming movie is short and simple, aka, nothing much is said except “we’re making a Mega Man film, y’all!” The film page reads, “Mega Man, a live-action sci-fi adventure film inspired by the Capcom video game, is currently in development. The script is being written by Henry and Rel, with Chernin Entertainment producing. The details are top secret for now… we’ll let you know when we have some fun stuff to share.”
In 2020 it was reported that the two would be joined by writer Mattson Tomlin, who wrote Joost and Schulman’s Netflix movie Project Power. Tomlin is also the writer behind The Batman, which is set to be released in 2022.
While we still don’t know what the movie will be about, we do know the vibe Tomlin is going for. In an interview with Polygon from 2020, Tomlin had this to say about making Mega Man functional as a movie.
I think the same way with with any other character, you treat him like he’s a real person. I was brought into that later in the process because Henry [Joost] and Ariel [Schulman], who directed Project Power, are also directing the Mega Man movie, and they had been working on it for a while and we just had such a good time working on Project Power together that they decided to be kind enough to continue to party in this other universe. My way into it was always, what is a compelling story? And what is the real soul of that character?
We all kind of know him as this cartoonish Blue Bomber who jumps and shoots, and to kind of go beyond that and knowing that, OK, visually it’s going to be a certain thing that is going to please the video game fan, but you know what is the story at the center? They’re like, what is it that this character can really go through? It’ll be universal and primal and emotional and everybody can kind of relate to. So I’m really excited about that script. I’m really excited about what the guys are going to do with that movie and and hopefully there’ll be some news about it soon.
Since this interview took place after the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie, Polygon went on to ask if Mega Man would be a kid’s movie. Sonic the Hedgehog was very much a family film and, honestly, a lot of fun to watch, after all, Sonic is an anthropomorphic hedgehog who runs fast and wears cool sneakers while fighting an evil scientist.
The premise is delightfully silly, and I wouldn’t terribly mind if Mega Man did something in the same vein. Mega Man is a cute blue robot who gets help from a red robot dog. There could be a lot of, um, primal and emotional stuff there, you know?
I’m actually being serious, after all, our two main scientists (Dr. Light and Dr. Wily) used to be friends.
While there are a lot of iterations of Mega Man to pull from (don’t say multiverse, don’t say multiverse, don’t say multiverse), I kinda get the feeling that this movie is gonna touch on the Blue Bomber that has crossed over in the likes of Super Smash Bros. and not the X series one.
And definitely not old-school box art Mega Man.
“I think it’s something that the kids will like,” Tomlin said. “I don’t want to say what our comps are because it might betray a little bit too much, but it is not squarely in the kid territory. But I don’t think that that’s an R-rated movie either.”
Just don’t go the Bomberman Act Zero route, please.
What are your thoughts on the live-action Mega Man movie? I think past me would’ve rolled her eyes a whole lot, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the Sonic movie so… maybe this can be fun? Or maybe it’s best to remain cynical until proven wrong?
(Image: Capcom)
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