If you’ve got any fondness for the Bakugan toys, you may be pleased to hear they’re coming to the movies.
Per Deadline, creator Spin Master Entertainment has tapped Atlas‘ Brad Peyton to direct, write, and produce the film. In a statement, Peyton said the toys were “ready for film, and I’m thrilled to be the one to bring it to the big screen for the very first time. With Lindsay [Harbert] and the Spin Master team alongside me, we’re excited to build a hit franchise with global appeal. I am confident we will create a must-see film event that does justice to the unique and epic world that is Bakugan.”
If you’ve never heard of Bakugan, picture Beyblade, but the toys were spring-loaded spheres that’s open up into minifigures when placed onto their metal Gate cards. The toys launched in 2006 ahead of its anime the following year, which centered on a kid named Dan and his friends, who play the in-universe Bakugan game as a team called the Battle Brawlers. Throughout the series, the Brawlers learn the monsters they’ve been playing with are real and have to save their dimension from various threats, including aliens and rogue Bakugan. In the US and other territories, it aired on Cartoon Network and became pretty popular thanks to its theme song and the network’s general action and anime focus at the time with other shows like Ben 10 and Batman: Brave and the Bold.
To date, the franchise has been rebooted twice: Bakugan: Battle Planet aired on Cartoon Network for its first two seasons, then transferred to Netflix for its remaining three. Months after Planet ended in 2023, a second series (simply titled Bakugan) premiered on Netflix. At time of writing, it’s unclear if that series is getting another season, or if Spin Master will reboot again to line up with the upcoming movie.
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