ROM: Spaceknight and M.A.S.K. movies shelved?

Hasbro's ambition for its cinematic universe is being scaled back.

A few years ago Paramount announced an extension to the Transformers universe with the addition of G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K., Visionaries, ROM: Spaceknight and the Micronauts. At the time, fans (myself included) of the vintage toy lines thought ROM would appear in Transformers: The Last Knight.

John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who are directing The Flash movie for Warner Bros., talked to IGN about what happened and shed light on the fates of ROM and M.A.S.K.:

“Those are probably not likely to see the light of day, unless they’re moving on separate from us. It’s a funny thing. We spent three weeks in a room with a lot of talented writers. We broke eleven or so movies and, I don’t know. It just kind of went into the vortex. There’s been some leadership changes at Paramount, so it’s hard to say. Nobody’s contacted us about those.

It was fun. It was a fun challenge to take these properties that were so barebones in any kind of a narrative and create a movie around them. You know, these little cheap, plastic things, and to give them a backstory was an exciting challenge.”

The Micronauts will appear in a new animated series to be streamed in 2019 and Transformers spin-off Bumblebee is in cinemas this December.