Capcom Co., Ltd. officially gave the go-ahead on Thursday with the announcement of a live-action Mega Man adaptation from 20th Century Fox. The studio was green-lit for the production back in September 2015 prior to news last July attaching Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman as directors with Chernin Entertainment (Planet Of The Apes films) and Oka Masi (Heroes) producing – as such, those details haven’t changed.
Launching in 1987 from Capcom with “Rock Man” as its Japanese title, the 8-bit Nintendo franchise focused on the story of Dr. Light, whose work ends up stolen by Dr. Wily and is converted into a squad of evil battle droids with specific skills, with the goal of world domination. In response, Light upgrades his lab assistant, Rock, arming him with a canon and battle armor and software to help absorb the powers of Wily’s droids upon their defeat.
Next to its various merchandising and multi-media successes over the years – including several animated TV shows like the August premiere of Mega Man: Fully Charged, Mega Man now boasts selling 32 million units worldwide as of this past June. The latest installment, Mega Man 11, released this week in the U.S., Europe, Japan and throughout Asia.
Mega Man is currently listed as the film’s tentative title with an official name pending as are casting details going forward. Stay tuned.