It should not come as a surprise to anyone that Hasbro wants to keep making new movies based on their toy and game products. After all, “Transformers 3” looks to be one of the highest-grossing films of the year, and they’ve had pretty good luck so far in their relationship with Hollywood.
The “Micronauts” property has passed through many hands over the years. I remember having a conversation with Gale Anne Hurd’s company about the material years ago when they were looking for a writer, and the thing that struck me as we looked through the materials they offered us was that this is even less of a fully-realized concept or world than something like “Transformers,” and whoever does finally turn this into a film is going to have an uphill battle to figure out what story they’re telling.
I guess it’s a good thing they’ve got JJ Abrams producing and Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese onboard as screenwriters.
Right now, Wernick and Reese are about as hot as writers can be. “Zombieland” was well-liked and a solid success, and their script for “G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation” is currently in front of the cameras in New Orleans. They also worked on the “Deadpool” movie that Fox is hoping to make with Ryan Reynolds starring and Tim Miller directing. So Paramount appears to be doubling down on the writers, having only recently closed the deal to buy the rights to “Micronauts” from Hasbro, who picked them up in 2009 from Takara, a Japanese toy company that originally created the toys and sold them under the name “Microman.” I remember the original Mego toys that they sold in the US, and I remember the various attempts that have been made at turning the property into a bigger mythology through comic books, including a line from Marvel.
Overall, I still don’t even fully understand what “Micronauts” is about, and I don’t think this has the same sort of established fanbase as something like “G.I. Joe” or “Transformers”. I think it’s a name that people of a certain age might recognize, but I don’t believe that this is going to be a case where they have to stick to something that’s previous established. There’s a wide open field here for Abrams, Wernick, and Reese to take whatever it is that already exists and just build something new of their own. They’re smart guys, so hopefully they see something in the property that I don’t, and here’s hoping whatever they come up with is exciting.