Look, we’re not suggesting that it’s only a matter of time before the darkest timeline swallows the entertainment industry whole; all we’re saying is that the backbones of Hollywood are in the midst of their biggest strike in roughly six decades, and the Mattel Cinematic Universe is a very real, very palpable development at the moment.
Now, I’m more than ready to be proven dead wrong if Mattel’s dense pipeline of toy-inspired movies end up reaching the artistic heights that Barbie did, but a state of affairs such as this demands that expectations get tempered quite rigorously; a personal chore we’ll all be undertaking as we follow the development of the Vin Diesel-led Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots movie.
Indeed, if ever a combination of words inspired less hope, it’s not on our radar at the moment. As distinctly fun as the Fast & Furious films can be, it’s more than a little bit bold to suggest that that same energy would translate to anything else quite as well, especially with what sounds like a marked gamble in Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots.
Nevertheless, it’s a project that Universal Studios has committed to, and according to producer Robbie Brenner (effectively Mattel Films’ answer to Marvel’s Kevin Feige), Diesel sounds all but ready to get his hands on a script, per Variety:
Vin is excited. We’re working on developing a script and we’re all very excited about it.
Now, admittedly, it’s unwise to prematurely knock something that we barely know anything about, especially after seeing what Greta Gerwig was able to accomplish with the Barbie IP. Perhaps, then, this kneejerk doubt is a result of the dystopian ethos that most anyone would immediately associate with the knowledge that 13 films based on Mattel toys are in development.
So, to that end, we’ll wait until we know more about Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots to let the opinions really spread their wings; just know, dear reader, that such a commitment won’t be seen through without restraint.
