“How to Train Your Dragon” director Dean DeBlois has come on board to direct and write “Micronauts” for Paramount Pictures and Hasbro.
DeBlois’ hiring is a major step forward for the project, which has been in the works at Paramount for a decade. The film will be based on the eponymous intergalactic explorer action figures made by Mego, based on a line by Japanese toy company Takara, that spawned a comic book series in the late 1970s and ’80s. The Marvel Comics series followed a small group of characters that formed a resistance after the dictator Baron Karza killed the royal family.
The Micronauts adaptation had been set up at J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot for several years, and in 2015, Paramount announced that Akiva Goldsman had been brought on to supervise a writers room for “Micronauts.”
“Micronauts” will be produced through Hasbro’s Allspark division. Producers are Brian Goldner, Stephen Davis and Greg Mooradian.
Paramount has set a June 4, 2021 release date.
DeBlois previously directed all three “How to Train Your Dragon” films, teaming with Chris Sanders on the 2010 original. The trio of “Dragon” titles brought in a combined $1.64 billion in worldwide box office. He also directed Disney’s animated comedy “Lilo & Stitch” with Sanders.
DeBlois is repped by WME and Lichter Grossman.
