Hasbro is now bringing Action Man to the big screen

Following the box office success of Barbie, toy adaptations are gaining momentum with Action Man joining the fray. Hasbro Entertainment and the British production company Working Title have begun efforts to bring the action figure, which has garnered a large fan base particularly in the United Kingdom since the 1960s, to the cinema.

Initially reported by The Hollywood Reporter and confirmed by Variety, the project features a screenplay co-written by Simon Hatt and Anthony Sellitti. Jeremy Latcham, one of the producers of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, is also part of the creative team. The film is still in development; the director, cast, and release date have not yet been announced.

It was the British counterpart to G.I. Joe

Action Man was launched in 1966 by the British toy company Palitoy as the licensed version of Hasbro's G.I. Joe figures in the U.S. Initially shaped around professions like soldier, sailor, and pilot, the brand gradually developed its own British identity.

During Hasbro's resurgence in the 1990s, the military theme was downplayed; the character transformed into a modern adventurer. Enemies like Dr. X and Professor Gangrene, along with animated series, comic books, and video games, were added to the brand's universe during this period.

It is not yet known which era the new film will focus on. The production team could either return to realistic military roots or draw from the more colorful world of espionage and adventure from the 1990s.

They even prepared a fight scene for the film

Reports suggest that Simon Hatt and Anthony Sellitti did not present the project merely as a concept file. Hatt is said to have prepared a pre-visualization scene with stunt performers to showcase the tone and action they envision for Action Man.

The project is described in sources as an action-comedy rooted in British culture. The presence of Working Title suggests that the film aims to preserve the brand's unique aspects rather than merely turning Action Man into another uniformed copy of G.I. Joe.

Hatt has worked on productions such as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Suicide Squad, and Peacemaker. Sellitti was part of the writing team for X-Men '97. The team appears to consist of individuals capable of balancing Action Man's large-scale action with humor.

Hasbro is bringing its brands to the screen one by one

Action Man is the latest project in Hasbro's extensive list of brands prepared for cinema and television.

The company's development slate includes a Monopoly film produced with Margot Robbie's LuckyChap, Netflix's Forgotten Realms series, a Magic: The Gathering film and television universe in partnership with Legendary, a Power Rangers series developed for Disney+, and a live-action My Little Pony film from Amazon MGM.

Hasbro is also adapting The Game of Life for cinema with Amazon MGM. The company describes these projects as part of a strategy to reposition its toy and game brands not just as licensed products but as film and series sources carrying their own stories.

While Transformers has been the biggest success of this model, brands like G.I. Joe, Dungeons & Dragons, and My Little Pony have previously attempted to enter theaters with varying results. The challenge ahead for Action Man is not just to capitalize on the name of a well-known toy; it will be to create a real character and world that today's audience will follow.

This is not the first attempt at an Action Man film

Hasbro previously tried to bring Action Man to the big screen. In 2018, Paramount Players began working on the film with James Bobin directing and Paddington 2 writer Simon Farnaby penning the script. That version never reached the filming stage.

The new film under the Working Title banner is not a continuation of the previous project; it is a fresh adaptation developed from scratch with different writers and producers.

Key decisions that will determine Action Man's direction in cinema have not yet been made. However, Hasbro's increasingly crowded schedule indicates that the company has not given up on finding a new major screen brand beyond Transformers. The next candidate is Action Man, which has been sitting on British children's shelves for nearly 60 years.