Way back in 2015, Paramount announced plans forRom: SpaceknightandM.A.S.K.movies which would be part of aHasbro cinematic universethat would also include theG.I. Joemovies, plusMicronautsandVisionaries. The studio put together a writers room, which included top scribes such as Michael Chabon, Brian K. Vaughan, Akiva Goldsman, Joe Robert Cole, Nicole Perlman and the writing team of John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. There has been little to no movement on any of those projects since the writers room convened, and while promoting their new movieGame Night, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein revealed thatROMandM.A.S.K.likely aren’t happening. Here’s what Jonathan Goldstein had to say below.
“Those are probably not likely to see the light of day, unless they’re moving on separate from us. It’s a funny thing. We spent three weeks in a room with a lot oftalented writers. We broke 11 or so movies and, I don’t know. It just kind of went into the vortex. There’s been some leadership changes at Paramount, so it’s hard to say. Nobody’s contacted us about those.”
While there has been no movement on theRomorM.A.S.K.movies thus far, Hasbro did announce aM.A.S.K. comic bookfrom IDW back in 2016, but now it seems that comic book will be the closest fans will get to a newM.A.S.K.story. The movies were to be produced under the Allspark Pictures banner, which is Hasbro’s film label, with Brian Goldner (Chairman, President and CEO, Hasbro) and Stephen Davis (Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer, Hasbro) serving as Producers, and Josh Feldman (Co-Head of Storytelling, Hasbro) as Co-Executive Producer, although, barring some big changes, it looks like this cinematic universe is being scrapped altogether. Here’s what John Francis Daley had to say about the experience in the writers room.
“It was fun. It was a fun challenge to take these properties that were so barebones in any kind of a narrative and create a movie around them. You know, these little cheap, plastic things, and to give them a backstory was an exciting challenge.”
Paramount built this writers room based on the success of theirTransformersfranchise writers room, which became so popular other studios started adapting it like Warner Bros. with theirGodzillaandKing Kongwriters room, and there was talk last year of Warner Bros. putting together aMatrix writers roomfor their newMatrixmovie which they’re eyeing Michael B. Jordan to star in. When asked if he was disappointed that these movies didn’t come to fruition, John Francis Daley said it’s all part of the business.
“We’re used to it. If you’re lucky, half of the things you work on get made. And that’s with good odds. I think our main focus now has been on directing and producing, as well as writing. Because writing itself is fun, but not necessarily as gratifying as seeing a film to fruition.”
While theseRomandM.A.S.K.movies seem to be shelved indefinitely, the studio is moving forward on severalTransformersmovies, withBumblebeehitting theaters this December. There have been rumors about a number of the different projects that came out of the writers room, but there is no confirmation on which one will move forward next. You can head on over toIGNfor their interview with John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein.
