‘The Batman’ Writer Mattson Tomlin No Longer Attached to Mega Man Movie
Some years ago, back when the world all but hit pause on most active lifestyles, word of a movie based on the popular Nintendo and Capcom property Mega Man spread with the pace of a Mario 3 speed run. Pretty soon, Matt Reeves’s ghostwriter for his first Batman film, Mattson Tomlin, was announced as the scribe in charge of script duties. The project looked for a while as if it had full energy for the Eight-Master Robots, but then, just as suddenly as it arose – nothing.
Whether it stalled or was canceled, reports on the film’s progress went quiet and fans were left in the dark. For most of the decade, radio silence has been the norm, but that was until fairly recently, when Tomlin addressed the situation and his status. Unfortunately, his update is not encouraging for whatever forward momentum there might still be.
On X, he shared what he knew, though it wasn’t much. While Tomlin couldn’t say for sure that the project was canceled, it was given to another unidentified writer years after his involvement began. He added he “wrote a fun set of drafts” when he still had the gig. Without going into specifics, he expressed hope that the film can be made and hinted at an “emotional and surprising way in.”
Based on reports that circulated at the time, Tomlin would have grounded the story in reality and explored the implications of advanced robotics and automation. The project was a joint venture between Mega Man owner Capcom, Chernin Entertainment, and 20th Century Studios. Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman were tapped to direct, with Netflix handling distribution. Tomlin, Joost, and Schulman previously made Project Power for the streaming giant.
With all those names and entities involved, it’s exceedingly perplexing that a live-action Mega Man movie can’t get made. More than that, movies based on video games have grown exponentially as a trend. They’re also huge moneymakers, as Minecraft, Sonic, and the Super Mario movies prove. Even Mortal Kombat hangs in there, remaining relevant in the summer blockbuster sphere.
Tomlin foresees Mega Man joining the fray eventually in the current Hollywood climate, but he believes the amount of time that has gone by rules out himself having anything to do with it.
