Live-Action Mega Man Film On The Way

Apparently, videogame development studio Capcom didn’t get the memo about the general track record for videogame movies, and has announced an adaptation of their long-running series Mega Man.

Way back in July, rumours began to float that directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (Catfish) had been in talks with the company to pen a screenplay for the feature, and to eventually helm the project (which will allegedly be distributed by 20th Century Fox).

Plot details are being kept tightly under wraps, though Capcom has now gone on record saying that the film is hoping to capture a “diverse audience”, and to appeal to the general cinema-going public as well as die-hard fans. Mega Man will supposedly keep the “world” of the games, but redesigned with the production values and modern aesthetic of contemporary Hollywood films.

The plot of the series has been rebooted several times over, but usually follows the titular blue bomber, a young boy robot with a cannon for an arm, who was designed by the brilliant and philanthropic genius Dr. Light to combat the many colourful and varied evil robots of Dr. Wily. Each of the series’ signature villains usually act as boss battles at the end of brutally hard platforming stages. Mega Man can then absorb the powers of his fallen foes, changing his costume and weapons, to help upgrade him against other villains.

The film is part of a multi-platform push by Capcom to increase the “brand value” of their most successful and longest-running property – indeed, the franchise has been running since 1987, and the games have sold over 30 million copies worldwide. There is presently an animated series airing on Cartoon Network called Mega Man: Fully Charged, and the latest game in the series – Mega Man 11 – released just a few days ago on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Mega Man (the film) is currently lacking a release date.