Paul Wernick & Rhett Reese Writing J.J. Abrams' MICRONAUTS
Zombieland writers adapting Transformers-esque battling robots toy franchise for the big screen.
Paul Wernick & Rhett Reese just secured a deal to bring their 2009 comedy Zombieland to the small screen but they are in the news today for an even bigger project they are working on. Deadline reports that the duo have been set by Hasbro, Paramount and Bad Robot to write the Micronauts blockbuster movie that J.J. Abrams setup as producer two years ago, perhaps with the intention of directing. Wernick & Reese have wrote the upcoming G.I. Joe sequel for the studio and their work has clearly impressed to get the gig on a movie Paramount & Hasbro hope can become a close cousin to the success of their Transformers series. And the similarities are clear - Micronauts are often seen as the Japanese version of Transformers as they were an interchangeable 3.75 inch-tall toy line created by Japanese toy company Takara in the 70s that directed influenced 'the robots in disguise'. They briefly came part of the Marvel universe where a storyline was fleshed out; a microscopic series of diverse habitats that are linked together in the fashion of molecule chains. The original team comes together in response to the threat posed by former academic and now murderous dictator, Baron Karza. Commander Arcturus Rann (returning from a thousand-year deep space voyage in suspended animation) and Biotron, his robot co-pilot, return on the HMS (Homeworld Micro Ship) Endeavor, to discover Karza has slain the royal family, who are in fact Ranns parents. What follows is an epic war across the Microverse: Rann and his allies against Karza.If no other website is telling you what to expect from a film it's because they don't know anything about the property either. J.J. Abrams has been working on producing a movie since 2009 and and the Zombieland writers must have been hired at some point to work on the movie because Movieline have got their hands a one-page excerpt from the screenplay;
I honestly know nothing about Micronauts other than what I've said above and that in my childhood they kind of looked like a cheap version of Transformers toys which is a little harsh as they obviously came first. But like zombies, battling robots are big business with Real Steel and Transformers both taking over the box office this year and with J.J. Abrams behind this one, Micronauts could be a huge, huge film. Reese & Wernick have also turned in the X-Men Origins spin-off Deadpool which is going nowhere at Fox and a Venom spin-off to Spider-Man at Sony which definitely went nowhere. They also wrote the screenplay for an epic and ambitious sounding sci-fi epic Earth vs. Moon but nothing has happened with that yet, if it ever will. Abrams meanwhile is directing Star Trek 2 early next year and no Micronauts movie is likely to be made until 2013. Anyone know more about Micronauts and care to speculate on this one?