With his screenplay for Ready Player One (above), Zak Penn got to play with a lot of '80s pop culture properties. But now he gets to work with one more. According to Deadline, Penn will be handling the script for ROM: Spaceknight, a sci-fi adventure based on a comic book and toy property that had a level of cult fandom decades ago and was recently rebooted for a series that's brought the cyborg alien hero back into the spotlight.
Regardless of how well-known ROM is, though, Hasbro Studios and its Allspark Pictures brand is set on adding the property to its cinematic universe. ROM will possibly eventually cross over with Transformers, G.I. Joe and other Hasbro imprints. Back in the day, ROM interacted with fellow Marvel characters, including the X-Men and the Avengers. But he is no longer part of Marvel's portfolio. The current ROM comics are published by IDW, where the character has already mixed with fellow Hasbro-verse entities.
All you need to know about the ROM story is that it's about a "spaceknight" (think Jedi knights), one of many cyborg warriors from a utopian society on the planet Galador, and his part in defending his world from the invading, dark-magic-wielding Dire Wraiths. Eventually ROM leaves his planet and arrives on Earth, where he continues to fight the Dire Wraiths. Presumably, the movie will involve both cosmic adventures and his time here in our realm.
In addition to the Steven Spielberg new smorgasbord of nostalgia, Penn (above) has worked on the scripts for many comic book adaptations, most of them based on Marvel titles, including X2: X-Men United and The Avengers. He's one of the original fanboy content creators to infiltrate Hollywood, and so hopefully he's plenty familiar with the source of his latest project. ROM may not have been a successful toy line and only a modestly sucessful comic series in its early years, but it definitely had a certain following.
For old and new fans of the character and his Star Wars-meets-RoboCop-like property, this latest development is great news considering just two months ago rumors circulated (by way of an IGN interview with screenwriters Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley) that the ROM movie would likely not happen. But since then, the Hasbro-verse has found new ground, with Allspark Pictures tapping Lego Batman Movie writer Chris McKay to script their Dungeons & Dragons feature.
Last year, we also learned Hasbro and Allspark are rebooting G.I. Joe for the big screen with an aim for younger viewers. Meanwhile, they've also got the upcoming Transformers spin-off prequel Bumblebee, a Clue reboot from Ryan Reynolds and, given Goldstein and Daley were wrong about ROM, probably still a M.A.S.K. (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand) movie as well.
There's a lot of promise here for another big crossover movie opportunity, and given Penn's involvement in other successful cinematic universes, his hire is a very good sign.
