Hasbro's development of their own cinematic universe hasn't exactly progressed as quickly as they were hoping, but one of their projects has taken a big leap forward as Deadline reports that they've tasked F. Gary Gray (THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS) with developing and directing M.A.S.K.
Standing for Mobile Armored Strike Kommand, M.A.S.K. is a task force led by Matt Trakker whose goal is to take out the criminal organization known as V.E.N.O.M (Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem). Deadline adds that Hasbro and Paramount Pictures are looking to quickly get a writer on the project in order to "hatch a contemporary subculture movie with a youth empowerment angle." Gray allegedly sparked to M.A.S.K. as it's "a vintage property that could be revamped and have something to say to a contemporary audience." Coming off of THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS, which grossed $1.2 billion, F. Gary Gray has been in much demand, and M.A.S.K. isn't the only high-profile project which he has in the works as he's currently in pre-production on the MEN IN BLACK reboot which is to star Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson. That film is due to kick off production in June for a May 17, 2019 release.
Hasbro's Allspark Pictures and Paramount assembled a writers room back in 2015 to help develop their non-TRANSFORMERS franchises, such as G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K., Micronauts, Visionaries, and ROM, and recently tasked Zak Penn (READY PLAYER ONE) with penning the script for ROM. It's coming together.