‘Transformers’ Writer’s Room to Expand to Other Hasbro Properties

Earlier this year, it was announced that Paramount created something of a “writer’s room” for the next batch of films in the “Transformers” property. In a world of shared universes and spinoffs, big blockbuster productions seemed to be taking more and more of a hint from the land of television, where creating a long-lasting universe is more of a given. Heading up that writer’s room was Academy Award-winning writer Akiva Goldsman, and joining him were tons of talented writers including Robert Kirkman, Zak Penn, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, Jeff Pinkner, and Steven DeKnight, among many others.

The jury is still out on whether or not this all will result in better “Transformers” films, but It seems like the folks over at Paramount are really liking the outcome of this experiment, and according to Deadline, they are now working to create writer’s rooms for two other Hasbro properties: “G.I. Joe” and “Micronauts.”

“G.I. Joe” is a franchise from Paramount that is in dire need of overhauling. The first movie, “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” was a cartoony mess of a film, and while the second one, “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” seemed like a more promising follow-up, it was a terrible film in a whole new way. Even more importantly, however, “G.I. Joe” hasn’t really performed to Paramount’s liking when it comes to the box office numbers. Sure, $300 million and $375 million respectively isn’t a terrible worldwide gross, but compared to the billion dollars that each “Transformers” movie brings in, it’s nothing. Hopefully this new writer’s room will help rehabilitate this franchise into something more exciting and successful.

A scan of the 1977 cover of an official Mego "Micronauts" catalog.

A scan of the 1977 cover of an official Mego “Micronauts” catalog.

My familiar with “Micronauts” is minimal. I’ve heard the name, but have had very limited experience with the actual toys. From what I’ve been able to gather, “Micronauts” is a toy line from the 1970s from Japanese company Takara. According to Toy News International, Takara is also the company that invented the “Transformers” toy line. In 2009, it was announced that Hasbro would be re-introducing the retired toy line to consumers, and hinted at that J.J. Abrams was in talks to direct a film based on the property. Clearly, time has passed, and Abrams is currently consumed with a little known property called “Star Wars,” but with this new writer’s room underway, we may be seeing some more Micronaut-related material sooner rather than later.

What do you think? Does the sound of a writer’s room for “G.I. Joe” and “Micronauts” excite you? Let us know in the comments down below!

SOURCES: Deadline, Toy News International

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