Working Title Films and Hasbro Entertainment are developing a live-action movie based on Action Man, the British toy soldier that’s been arming kids’ imaginations since 1966.
Simon Hatt and Anthony Sellitti are writing the script together. Hatt spent a decade at Marvel, most recently serving as an executive producer on GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3, while Sellitti co-wrote the animated series X-MEN ’97. Both writers are longtime fans of the toy line, and, according to The Hollywood Reporter, they pursued the project aggressively enough to call in a favor from a stunt crew, who helped them put together a pre-visualized fight sequence to sell Hasbro and Working Title on the movie’s blend of action and comedy.
The duo said their take on the project is “deeply British with a reverence for action cinema.”
Jeremy Latcham will produce. He built his resume on some of Marvel’s biggest hits, including IRON MAN, IRON MAN 2, THE AVENGERS, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, before launching his own production company in 2017. He’s also worked with Hasbro before, producing DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES.
Action Man began in 1966 as Palitoy’s British answer to Hasbro’s G.I. Joe, decked out in World War II and Korean War-style uniforms before pivoting toward British military gear in the 1970s. Hasbro relaunched the toy in 1993 and then reinvented it again in 1995, turning Action Man into a modern-day explorer with no military ties and a rogue’s gallery of new villains like Dr. X and Professor Gangrene. Sixty years later, the brand still has enough name recognition that a studio the size of Working Title, best known for LOVE ACTUALLY and BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY, is willing to bet on it.
Related: What You Need to Know About Paramount’s Upcoming G.I. JOE Movie
Neither Hasbro nor Working Title has commented publicly on the project, per The Hollywood Reporter, which first broke news of the writing team. There’s no release date, no director and no cast attached yet.
Movieguide® has tracked Hasbro’s uneven track record on the big screen for years. The G.I. JOE franchise swung between the campy fun of G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA and the incoherence of G.I. JOE: RETALIATION, while the TRANSFORMERS series drew a rare special alert from Movieguide® over content parents didn’t expect from a toy brand. Action Man’s espionage angle and comedic tone suggest Working Title may be aiming for something lighter than either franchise, but families will want to wait for real details before getting their hopes up.
For now, ACTION MAN joins a long line of toy chests Hollywood keeps raiding for material, following BARBIE’s box-office windfall and the ongoing TRANSFORMERS reboots. Whether a 60-year-old British action figure can find the same audience remains to be seen, but with two Marvel-trained writers steering the script, this one at least has a fighting pedigree behind it.
Read Next: SNAKE EYES: G.I. JOE ORIGINS
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