Another video game-to-movie adaptation might be in the works at 20th Century Fox, who has begun pursuing them more than most of its competitors in recent years. The Tracking Board reports that they’ve received word from an insider that Fox is working with Chernin Entertainment, and the same team at Chernin that realized the rebooted (and superb) Planet of the Apes prequels, to develop a feature film adaptation of Mega Man.
The studios involved haven’t yet confirmed whether or not the report is accurate, but given the decades-long history of Mega Man, who still stands as Capcom’s flagship character, with the most game appearances, and most games sold of any Capcom franchise to date (even beating out big hitters like Street Fighter and Resident Evil), it would be unsurprising that the Blue Bomber would be ripe for the big screen. Pair that with the ease of designing Mega Man in the style of the currently ultra-popular superhero movie, and you have something that Fox would naturally be very attracted to, as far as video game-to-movie adaptations go.
Capcom has also been more enthusiastic to develop feature films of their game properties compared to many other game publishers, having two Street Fighter movies come out of Hollywood, along with a highly successful quintology (soon sextology) of live-action Resident Evil movies, with the Resident Evil movie series currently being the most profitable series of video game adaptations that Hollywood has delivered so far. A live-action movie based on Capcom’s Ace Attorney series also released theatrically in the company’s native Japan, and is available to view for free on YouTube in the West. Finally, Capcom also attempted to jumpstart Hollywood feature films based on their Onimusha and Devil May Cry franchises, though these plans sadly never came together.
For longtime gamers, Mega Man needs no introduction, being one of the most recognizable and beloved third-party characters in gaming history, since his debut on the NES in 1987. While the series went through a bit of a drought at the start of the 2010’s, Capcom has since showed renewed interest in the property, announcing a new animated series to be timed with the franchise’s 30th anniversary in 2017, authorizing Mega Man as a playable character in Nintendo’s two most recent Super Smash Bros. games (complete with his own Amiibo figure!), and recently releasing a compilation of the series’ six well-received classic NES titles, Mega Man Legacy Collection, which is available digitally for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and will come to both retail and Nintendo 3DS next year.
The man credited with the creation of Mega Man, Keiji Inafune sadly no longer works for Capcom, having founded his own indie Japanese game developer, Comcept, though Inafune has since made several Mega Man-inspired brands, including Azure Striker Gunvolt, now available for 3DS and PC, and the Kickstarter-funded Mighty No. 9, which is coming to every current gaming platform, and was recently delayed into next year. Inafune is also working on a series inspired by the cult hit Mega Man Legends series, called Red Ash, which is being billed as a spin-off of Mighty No. 9.
Would you be excited to see a Mega Man movie? Do you think Hollywood should stay far away from the Mega Man brand? If the movie does end up happening, would you prefer that it were a live-action movie, or perhaps a 3D animated movie? As usual, your comments are welcome below.
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