While there are plenty of detractors with various games turned into live action films out there, and many rightly so (yes, we’re looking at you Battleship), there’s no denying that there can be successes even when they’re bad (hello, Transformers franchise). And Paramount is looking to strike gold once again, but going with something a bit more Japanese this time. The studio has acquired the live action rights for Beyblade, which has several anime adaptations over the years and some manga as well. While they’ve never really felt like they achieved mass market success in those adaptations, the franchise as a whole continues to be strong and Paramount cited that the toys have generated over $2.5 billion in revenue over its lifespan going back well over a decade.
With a new generation of toys being planned for a 2017 launch, it’s expected that Paramount will be fast tracking this, though how closely it’ll hew to the original materials is certainly up in the air.
Original series concept: Tyson Granger, a young boy, and his friend Kenny enter the Japanese Regional Qualifying Beyblade Tournament. There, Tyson meets new players and organizes a team called the Bladebreakers in order to win the Beyblade World Championship. They compete with spinning tops called Beyblades (which hold beasts inside them), forge friendships and create opponents along the way.
[Source: Deadline]
