Sony is going to finally see if One Punch Man can do to the box office what he does to supervillains. Variety reports Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner, writers of Venom and both recent Jumanji films, have been hired to adapt Japanese manga One Punch Man for the big screen.
If you don’t know One Punch Man, the character is hugely popular around the world. The story centers on Saitama, who has the ability to defeat any enemy with a single punch. Sounds boring, right? Well, that’s when he goes on a journey to find a truly worthy opponent, as he’s grown bored with his own omnipotence.
There’s a lot working against a One Punch Man movie, but most of it is due to a long history of failed American adaptations of Japanese manga/anime. Ghost in the Shell with Scarlett Johansson is probably the most high-profile example, but you can look at Dragon Ball: Evolution, The Last Airbender, and Death Note as other bad Hollywood takes on popular Japanese titles.
In some cases, the movies just don’t happen at all, like the forever-developing Akira movie that no longer seems to be happening with Taika Waititi. While there are critical successes, like the excellent Alita: Battle Angel, even that failed to do enough to warrant a sequel.
My worry is the One Punch Man premise will be too weird for American audiences to latch on to. I fully expect the franchise’s many fans to show up, though it’ll take more than that for the film to be a hit. A lot will depend on the director and who gets cast as the knockout hero.
