Mega Man – Picture: Capcom
A Mega Man movie has long been in development with Chernin Entertainment and rumors have long swelled about it moving to Netflix but can we definitively say a Mega Man movie is coming to Netflix yet? The answer appears to be yes.
Rumors of a Mega Man movie jumping over to Netflix have been swirling around for years. The IMDb page for the Mega Man movie has listed Netflix for quite some time but we don’t yet have official word from the streamer so let’s summarise everything we know so far.
For those unfamiliar, Mega Man is one of the biggest games out of Capcom which saw its first release in 1987 on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Dozens of game releases later (and plenty of other media formats too) the franchise is still huge to this day.
The History of the Mega Man Movie
Let’s rewind a second as the Mega Man movie has been in development for quite some time.
Back in September 2015, Chernin Entertainment was attached to a Mega Man live-action project which was set to be released by 20th Century Fox. Chernin Entertainment notably was working extensively with 20th Century Fox at this point.
It was later announced that Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman were announced to write and direct the project. More on these two in a second. In addition, further reports indicated that Masi Oka would produce and Mattson Tomlin would also be on the writing team.
In addition, Capcom has said the movie would be “an adaptation that maintains the world of the Mega Man games while incorporating the grand production and entertainment value that Hollywood movies are known for.”
The project has since been incredibly quiet since that initial announcement with work happening below the radar. It was even thought that Disney scrapped the project in 2019 following its acquisition of 20th Century Fox.
That was until April 2020 when it was announced that Chernin Entertainment was signing a brand new first-look deal with Netflix. That led many to speculate the movie would eventually move over to Netflix. But again, radio silence on Mega Man until later that year.
Mega Man – Picture: Capcom
In August 2020, Mattson Tomlin spoke to Polygon briefly about the Mega Man movie saying it was still in development but didn’t mention where it’d be landing. He did say, however, that it’ll be “universal and primal and emotional and everybody can kind of relate to” adding “I’m really excited about that script. I’m really excited about what the guys are going to do with that movie and hopefully, there’ll be some news about it soon.”
Now, fast forward to December 2021, some eagle-eyed fans have spotted an update to Super Marche’s website which is the site for the production company helmed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman.
The part we’re most interested in is the section that says:
“Henry, Rel, and their in-house producer Orlee-Rose Strauss maintain an active development slate. Features in the works include: an adaptation of Capcom’s MEGA MAN for Chernin Entertainment and Netflix, which they wrote and are directing”
So that all but officially confirms we will see Mega Man come to Netflix.
Supermarche – Picture: supermarche.nyc
Everything else known about the Netflix Mega Man Movie
Moving Picture Company (MPC) are listed among the special effects companies for the movie on IMDb. Again, no official confirmation of their involvement beyond them listed here but it’s worth noting they’ve done many projects where animation is included in real-life shots. They’ve also worked on FX’s American Horror Story.
Going back to the aforementioned Polygon interview, Matt Tomlin was asked whether the movie would be like Sonic the Hedgehog (who also recently got a live-action adaptation) where he responded:
“I think it’s something that the kids will like. I don’t want to say what our comps are because it might betray a little bit too much, but it is not squarely in the kid territory. But I don’t think that that’s an R-rated movie either.”
IMDb updated the project to be in pre-production as of December 5th, 2021.
Mega Man adds to a huge slate of upcoming video game adaptations coming to Netflix including Capcom’s own Resident Evil franchise.
Are you looking forward to Mega Man coming to Netflix? Let us know in the comments down below.