Several planned video game based movies in the works will no longer see the light of day, as Disney has unplugged a handful of them in one fell swoop. As a result of Fox movies underperforming at the box office after the Disney-Fox merger, the House of Mouse is shelving all but a select few movies in early development at Fox.
Reportedly, over 300 movie projects have been canceled by Disney, including new movies based on Mega Man, Magic: The Gathering and The Sims. An Assassin’s Creed sequel, which would have served as a follow-up to the 2016 movie, has also been nixed. It’s not clear how far along each of these projects were, as they were in different stages of development.
Longtime gamers will remember Mega Man when the series first debuted on the Nintendo Entertainment System back in the ’80s. As the titular robot, players battle through several other robots with interesting names and gimmicks to defeat the nefarious Dr. Wily. Since becoming an instant hit, a plethora of sequels have been released across a variety of consoles in the years since. The game was also given an animated series for children as well. After years of rumors, reports hit the internet last fall that a Mega Man movie was in development at Fox with Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman writing and directing. Now it’s clear Sonic the Hedgehog will be the only blue video game character to soon enough make his way to theaters.
Directed by Justin Kurzel, 2016’s Assassin’s Creed movie is based on the video game series of the same name. Set during the Spanish Inquisition, the movie stars Michael Fassbender as a time traveler who lives out the experiences of an assassin ancestor. It was seen as a commercial success, grossing over $240 million against its budget of $125 million. Based on this success, multiple sequels were planned, with Kurzel noting he wanted to explore the Cold War in a follow-up movie. Unfortunately for fans of the first movie, it’s now clear Assassin’s Creed will instead stand on its own.
Another planned movie to get the axe from Disney is an adaptation of the popular card game Magic: The Gathering. Initially, the plan was for the movie to serve as the beginning of a new franchise. The project was first announced in 2014 with Simon Kinberg on board to direct the first movie. Ultimately, the project stalled, and while the movie has officially been nixed by Disney, the franchise is getting the small screen treatment for Netflix by the Russo Brothers. Similarly, reports of Fox developing a movie based on The Sims date all the way back to 2007, but the project just couldn’t seem to get traction. We’ll see if they also wind up showing up on Netflix as well.
Some of the other movies to be canceled by Disney include Chronicle 2, Flash Gordon, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and the planned Die Hard reboot McClane. So what exactly is Disney going to be moving forward with, then? Well, rest assured, the Avatar movie series is still on the table with four planned sequels in the works, and they’ll be overseeing more Planet of the Apes movies as well. Disney might have just axed over 300 movies, but the company will still be rolling around in billions of dollars in ticket sale cash soon enough. This news comes to us from TheGamer.com.
