Sony Pictures Taps Justin Lin To Direct ‘One Punch Man,’ Adaptation Of Manga Classic; Scott Rosenberg & Jeff Pinkner Scripting.
After exiting Fast X, it didn’t take Justin Lin very long to rev up another franchise. He’s set to direct One Punch Man for Sony Pictures. Scott Rosenberg & Jeff Pinkner, who teamed on Jumanji: The Next Level and Venom, are set to write the live-action film adaptation of worldwide hit manga series. Sony Pictures acquired the film rights from Shueisha.
Hugely popular in both Japan and around the world, One Punch Man follows the story of Saitama, a superhero who can defeat any opponent with a single punch but seeks to find a worthy opponent after growing bored by a lack of challenges in his fight against evil. Think Mike Tyson. The studio is bullish on the concept as a franchise starter.
Created in 2009 by Japanese artist ONE as a webcomic, One Punch Man quickly went viral. In 2012, it was then published on Shueisha’s Tonari no Young Jump Next with illustrations by Yusuke Murata along with ONE. The series became huge with worldwide sales totaling more than 30 million copies. When the English edition published by VIZ Media debuted in the U.S.
Lin was planning to wrap up the Fast and Furious series and had begun production on Fast X when he dropped out of the project over creative differences that had to do with star Vin Diesel’s system of script rewrites.