It’s been a long, meandering road to the big screen for Capcom’s iconic Blue Bomber, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, Catfish duo Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman have come into contention to write and direct Fox’s long-in-development Mega Man movie.
Negotiations between 20th Century Fox and the creative duo are ongoing, but THR’s report goes on to note that those talks are nearing the final stages.
Since its inception in 1987, Mega Man has launched a full-blown media franchise spanning books, comics, spinoff animated series, and more than 50 video games. Next month, Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 will become the latest addition to that genre-defining body of work when it makes a beeline for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
In terms of Fox’s big-screen adaptation, though, this is the first tangible sign of progress since Castlevania‘s Adi Shankar pitched his own, R-rated rendition of the pint-sized Blue Bomber. Shankar has since shifted his attention over to season 2 of Castlevania, not to mention that Assassin’s Creed animated series that has purportedly found a home at Netflix.
Details on how Joost and Schulman will approach Mega Man remain few and far between – for instance, will it be live-action? Or stay true to the animated, cartoon-like style of the video games? THR’s scoop doesn’t divulge any concrete details on that front, but we assume 20th Century Fox plans to produce a live-action adaptation of the Capcom classic, similar to how Warner Bros. is prepping a cinematic version of Tomb Raider with the Oscar-winning Alicia Vikander in the role of Lara Croft.
Mega Man is officially moving forward at 20th Century Fox, and though Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman are yet to sign on in an official capacity, we’ll be bringing you all the latest as this story develops.