As if doing crazy things with cars (and trucks, and tanks and... rockets?) in the Fast & Furious franchise wasn't enough, Vin Diesel is turning his attention to an iconic game. He'll be part of a movie based on Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots.
Yes, while it sounds like the sort of joke story we might write when yet another game adaptation is announced, Vin Diesel really is involved to star in the film, which Mattel and Universal are surely hoping will become a franchise. Rampage writer Ryan Engle is the man tasked with turning what is a very basic concept – there are robots, we make them fight – into a story. And that story will be... a father (Diesel) and son forming an unlikely bond with an advanced war machine.
This one is clearly coming together fairly quickly, given Diesel's involvement (and there may be a push to get this one done before the star dives into the next two Fast movies), but there's not director yet. "To take the classic Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em game, with Mattel as my partner, and align it with the kind of world-building, franchise-making success we have had with Universal, is truly exciting," says Diesel. Rock on? And will Hugh Jackman get grumpy that this is essentially re-doing Real Steel?