‘Metal Men’ Animated Movie In The Works From ‘The Little Mermaid’ And ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ Filmmakers

Nearly a decade ago, right around the time of his Men in Black 3, director Barry Sonnenfeld revealed his plans to bring oddball DC Comics heroes the Metal Men to screens everywhere. Even earlier this year he was still claiming to be developing that film with Warner Bros., but it appears to have been reduced to scrap. THR reports that another Metal Men film is in the works, but this won’t be live-action and will instead be animated.

Warner Animation Group has an animated Metal Men movie with a treatment by Disney animation legends Ron Clements and John Musker, known for The Little Mermaid and Aladdin.  They’ll be joined on the Space Jam: New Legacy writer Celeste Ballard. The expectation by Clements and Musker is that they’ll also direct.

The Metal Men are a group of six robots created by inventor Will Magnus, each imbued with the properties their names suggests: Gold is the field leader; Iron is strong; Lead is thick and stupid; Tin is shy and timid; Mercury is hot-headed and quick to anger, etc.

Ballard’s background is in comedy, so don’t be surprised if this Metal Men leans into their weird, humorous aspects.

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.