Former Halo director wants to tackle Metroid movie
The video game movie is back, and boy, it's back in a big way. While Nintendo set a precedent with Detective Pikachu in 2019, it doubled down on its success with The Super Mario Bros. Movie breaking box office records in 2023. Could Metroid be the next Nintendo mainstay to capitalise on its money-making potential?
Up there with Mario, Metroid is one of Nintendo's longest-running franchises. Since the debut of Metroid on the NES in 1986, we've had a slew of mainline titles and spin-offs, while Samus Aran has become a legend of the video game world. It's about time she got the attention she deserves.
Neill Blomkamp wants a Metroid movie
Although the idea of a Metroid movie has been floated before (more on that later), District 9's Neill Blomkamp has thrown his hat into the ring for an adaptation. When one fan asked if Blomkamp would be interested in a Metroid movie, the director gave a simple "yes" reply.
It's not quite confirmation he's working on a live-action Metroid movie with Katee Sackhoff as Samus (we can only hope), but at least we know he'd be interested if the idea moves forward. Hopefully, someone out there had the money to give a Metroid movie the green light.
Blomkamp is no stranger to helmeted heroes, previously being attached to the canned Halo movie. 20th Century Fox and Universal partnered on a Halo movie, with Blomkamp set to direct and Peter Jackson producing. Around 2007, Blomkamp confirmed it was dead and he'd pass on the project if it returned.
More recently, he's tried his hand at directing a video game movie once again, with Gran Turismo coming out in 2023 and boasting an all-star cast of David Harbour and Orlando Bloom. While we're not fully sold on Gran Turismo, we'd love to see what Blomkamp could do with Metroid.
What happened to the Metroid movie?
Click to enlargeAs far back as the 1980s, the axed Super Mario Bros. Power Hour planned on having an animated Metroid segment, which would've featured a male Samus.
In the early '00s, Face/Off's John Woo was working on a Metroid movie that would've given Samus an origin as "an exceptionally talented, but also flawed character who was looking for redemption." Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aimé promised an update at E3 2005, but nothing came of it.
Kong: Skull Island's Jordon Vogt-Roberts said he was interested in directing a Metroid adaptation, while the movie's Brie Larson cosplayed as Zero Suit Samus in 2018 and also expressed an interest in playing the character via Twitter.
Mario Movie stars Chris Pratt and Charlie Day recently told Gizmodo they'd love an animated Metroid movie to join the Mario Cinematic Universe. While it looks like Illumination is working toward a franchise, most would agree a gritty and live-action Metroid movie would work best as a sci-fi horror.
