Dean DeBloishas had quite a bit of success in animation. He’s been nominated for two Oscars for the first twoHow to Train Your Dragonmovies, and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if he’s nominated a third time forHow to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. But now he’s going to be turning to live-action by adapting the Hasbro toy lineMicronauts.
DeBlois will write and direct the movie, which is based on the 1970s toy line that lead to Marvel Comics series. PerTHR, “The comics told of a Microverse in which diverse worlds were linked together and in which a power mad dictator named Baron Karza kills the royal family, taking control. A small group of eclectic characters – a pilot awoken from a centuries-long deep sleep, alien gladiators, survivors of the coup – band together to form a resistance.” Fun fact: if you’re wondering why Marvel uses the term “Quantum Realm” in their movies, it’s because the term “Microverse” is owned by Hasbro.
Micronautshas been in various stages of development for a while now.Back in 2009,J.J. Abramswas set to produce an adaptation andthen in 2015ZombielandwritersPaul WernickandRhett Reesetook a crack at the script. Paramount and Hasbro also considered making their owninterconnected toy universewithMicronautssharing the same world asG.I. Joe,M.A.S.K.,ROM, andVisionaries. All of that appears to be out the window with the new take being described as “centering on a group of intergalactic explorers.”
The key hire here is DeBlois. I don’t thinkMicronautsis going to have the same level of brand recognition asTransformersandG.I. Joe, but that’s okay if the story is good, and DeBlois has repeatedly shown himself to be a gifted storyteller. If putting an adventure story about intergalactic explorers has to be put under theMicronautsbanner in order to appease Viacom and Hasbro shareholders, then so be it. After hitting it out of the park with theHow to Train Your Dragontrilogy, I’ll happily see whatever DeBlois puts together.
