Vin Diesel to star in Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots movie for Universal

Vin Diesel in Fast and Furious — (Image credit: Universal Studios)

Vin Diesel is sticking with family or, instead, the studio that produces the Fast and Furious movies. Diesel is set to star in and produce a live-action feature version of the famous Mattel tabletop boxing game Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots.

Ryan Engle, the writer behind the Rampage movie – which starred Diesel’s Fast and Furious castmate and Black Adam star, Dwyane Johnson – is set to pen the screenplay for the action-adventure. As reported by Variety, the story is said to follow a father and son who form an unlikely bond with an advanced war machine. A plot that is not to be mixed up with Hugh Jackman’s Real Steel from 2011.

Mattel Films is teaming up with Universal to produce and has other works on live-action adaptations of their other game and toy IPs, including Barbie, Barney, and Magic 8 Ball.

On the Universal side, the company is developing a feature version of the popular 90s tv series Wishbone and gearing up for the release of Fast and Furious 9, which finally hit theaters going a quarter mile an hour on June 25.

Stephanie is a comic book historian and pop culture critic for publications including SYFYFANGRRLS, Marvel, The A.V. Club, Nerdist, Den of Geek, and Rotten Tomatoes. Stephanie is also a comic creator with three ongoing webcomics, Parenthood Activate!, But What If Though?, and Living Heroes. She made her Marvel debut with a short story featuring Monica Rambeau in Marvel’s Voices: Legacy. She recently made her DC Comics debut in Wonder Woman Black and Gold #2 and is co-writing the Nubia and the Amazons miniseries.