With Barbie seeing if it can theatrically return and a Matchbox movie months away, another toy line’s stepped up for adaptation. Our latest candidate is Action Man, a line of toys famous over in the UK.
Per the Hollywood Reporter, Hasbro and studio Working Title are working on an adaptation. Handling the script are Marvel alums Anthony Seliitti and Simon Hatt. The former is on X-Men ’97, where he’s written several episodes—including season one’s three-part finale, and season two’s Wolverine-focused adventure—and the latter’s been a producer on the Guardians of the Galaxy sequels, Peacemaker, and The Suicide Squad.
Created by British toy company Palitoy in 1966, Action Man is a licensed copy of G.I. Joe, with early toys named after masculine jobs like “Soldier,” “Sailor,” and “Pilot.” (Just imagine “Action” placed before each of them.) Designed more toward British sensibilities, the original line ran until 1984, competing in its early years against similar toys like the higher-quality Tommy Gunn. The 90s saw Hasbro relaunch Action that leaned more toward an adventurer angle with a UK-exclusive animated series.
Way back in 2012, after the initial Transformers movie trilogy wrapped, Hasbro was hoping to make Action Man another of its properties to get a film. Those plans fell apart throughout the decade, fizzling out after 2018 while Paramount looked to relaunching Transformers and trying to do something with G.I. Joe (several times). But with toy adaptations gradually on the rise again, and James Bond still cinematically MIA, Hasbro’s jumping on both moments while it can.
We’ll have more on the Action Man movie as it develops.
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