- Paramount Picture (NASDAQ:VIA-OLD +11.1%, VIAB +12.1%) and Hasbro (HAS +0.2%) have pulled together a group of experienced screenwriters to firm up plans for toy/film collaborations that build on previous successes, notably including robot-toy juggernaut Transformers.
- The "cross-property interconnected screen universe" covers a number of brands, also including G.I. Joe, Micronauts, Visionaries, M.A.S.K. and ROM -- and looks to be capitalizing on a "cinematic universe" strategy to ape success like Marvel/Disney's.
- Films will be produced by Allspark Pictures, Hasbro's film label, and distributed by Paramount. Oscar winner Akiva Goldsman will executive produce all films and oversee a writers room that also features novelist Michael Chabon; Under the Dome showrunner Brian Vaughan; Marvel writer Nicole Perlman; and several others.
- The G.I. Joe franchise has earned more than $675M worldwide. The Transformers franchise directed by Michael Bay has earned $3.8B so far; Bay has directed four films and the next three are set for each of the next three years.
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