EXCLUSIVE

〉Does the titular battle droid have a blockbuster cannon?

20th Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment have started development on a fan favorite in the video game world. Heralded as one of the most popular video game franchises in history, MEGA MAN is now on his way to the big screen. Feel free to be cautiously optimistic.

One positive sign of things to come is Chernin Entertainment. David Ready and Michael Finfer are overseeing for the company, while Peter Chernin produces. Together they have a pretty solid pedigree for sci-fi action movies, including the recent/upcoming Planet of the Apes films. Mike Ireland and Ryan Horrigan are overseeing for Fox.

Mega Man, originally called Rock Man in Japan, was first released in 1987 for Nintendo by Capcom. The backstory for the game is that a man named Dr. Light and the android that he built to be his lab assistant, Rock, were betrayed by the evil Dr. Wily, who stole Dr. Light’s work and made evil robot with special weapons to take over the world.

Dr. Light reconfigured his lab assistant into a battle droid with armor and a cannon, which he then called Mega Man. Once victorious over the evil robots, Mega Man can mimic their weapons, which are useful in the games as certain enemies are vulnerable to other enemies weapons.

Now, many video game films have been hyped too much before their release only to fall short of even the lowest expectations due to budget shortfalls and creative conflicts (or mountains of cocaine, prostitutes, and the failing health of a leading actor in Street Fighter’s case), but since Mega Man has such a loyal following and the series is known for embracing its nostalgic 8-bit roots, worries that the brand doesn’t have enough appeal or a signature style should be unfounded. Maybe I’m just a cock-eyed optimist, but I feel like we’re looking at the next Resident Evil instead of the next Super Mario Bros.

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Lance Boyle | Staff Writer