Is Abrams Preparing To Invade Inner Space?

by CBR News Team, Editor

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal about the current Hollywood trend towards licensing toys for movie development deals, the man behind "Lost" and the director of recent "Star Trek" movie, J.J. Abrams, is currently in negotiations to produce a movie based on the popular Micronauts franchise.

Recently acquired by Hasbro, the Micronauts toys were created and first produced by the Japanese company, Takara, the same company that developed the original Transformers toy line. And while they may not have a cartoon or live-action pedigree, the Micronauts universe is no stranger to long-form sotrytelling. Over the years, the Micronauts have been the subject of a number of comic book series, from Devil's Due, Image Comics and Marvel Comics. Indeed, Marvel's series crossed over into the Marvel Universe on several occasions, with a number of characters created in the comic still appearing in Marvel titles today.

At this point, it's too soon to know how Abrams would approach a movie based on the action figure line, or if he and Hasbro will even be able to come to an agreement to work together on the project. However, the writer/director/producer did have the following to say about Hollywood's current trend towards developing movies based on toys and games, likening the properties to the casting of an unknown actor into a big role. "Sometimes, when someone is not a celebrity and you are casting them in a role, everyone who is in a seat of authority voices questions about that actor's talent...[but] suddenly they are on the cover of every magazine, and nobody questions those things again. In retrospect, everyone says, 'Of course that person is a star.'"

Stay tuned to CBR for more on this story as it develops...