Warping to a cinema near you, Mega Man live-action film announced.

After a successful release of Mega Man’s eleventh game installment, Capcom and 20th Century Fox have announced plans for a live-action movie adaptation. Of course it’s hard to get excited for a video game film, particularly when they are very much hit and miss, with very few actually doing it’s original content source justice, including Mario Bros. and Street Fighter to name a few. Of course, we here at Checkpoint, ever the optimistic bunch, are hopeful that writer/directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman are up to the task.

News of the film was made official when Capcom announced on it’s investor relations website; “Based on the influential and globally beloved Mega Man franchise, Capcom aims to appeal to a diverse audience, including not only game players but action movie fans as well, with an adaptation that maintains the world of the Mega Man games, while incorporating the grand production and entertainment value that Hollywood movies are known for”.

For fans of the series, myself included, this makes me feel hopeful that Capcom will actually produce a halfway decent film. The fact that the production will be handled by Chernin Entertainment, the same company who worked on the Planet of the Apes revival series, as well as co-producer Masi Oka, best known for his roles in Heroes and Hawaii Five-0, gives me more confidence that the source material will be handled with more care and reverence.

As gaming becomes a much more influential entertainment medium, it’s only a matter of time before the floodgates open and game-based films start hitting the silver screen. Despite not having a release date out yet, Mega Man will be a film which many fans will expect a high level of quality from, and one that if done correctly will hopefully usher in a new age of well made video game films. Goodness knows we do need a few more of them.