Hasbro is further expanding into the cinematic space by finally bringing Rom: Spaceknight to the big screen. Zak Penn, who most recently adapted Ernest Cline's novel Ready Player One for director Steven Spielberg, has been tapped to write the screenplay for the movie. The project is being produced by Allspark Pictures, which was recently set up to turn Hasbro properties into live-action entertainment. Hasbro has been working with Paramount Pictures for years on the Transformers franchise and Rom will be no different.

Rom, which stands for read-only memory, is much like other Hasbro properties in that, it started life out as a toy and later was made into a series of comic books. Rom: Spaceknight was published by Marvel Comics from 1979 to 1986. In 2015, IDW began publishing a new series of Rom comics. The toy was a cyborg action figure released in the late 1970s, but wasn't a big success at the time. However, in part thanks to the comic book series, Rom has managed to gain something of a cult following over the years and now, assuming this movie actually gets made, the cyborg will be making his way to the big screen.

Zak Penn got his start at the age of 23 writing the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic Last Action Hero. Since then, he's worked on quite a few comic book movies, such as X2, Elektra, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men: The Last Stand and The Avengers. Outside of the comic book movie world, his credits include Behind Enemy Lines and Suspect Zero. Admittedly, that makes for something of a mixed bag, in terms of quality, but buzz on Ready Player One has been positive and having The Avengers, easily one of the best comic book movies ever made, under your belt doesn't hurt anything. And he has quite a bit of source material to draw on, should he decided to dig into Marvel's back catalog of Rom: Spaceknight comic books.

If you're not familiar, Rom hails from a utopian society on the planet Galador. Rom is a cyborg who, after defeating the invading Dire Wraith on its planet, continues the battle on Earth and other planets. Basically, he's a somewhat generic robot person who traverses the galaxy fighting various threats. While that may seem basic, there's also an argument to be made that Zak Penn will be free to craft a narrative that he sees fit, since the only thing this movie will really be beholden to is a toy.

Paramount Pictures and Hasbro have quite a few irons in the fire, aside from this Rom movie. They're also working on more Transformers projects beyond Bumblebee, but there's some confusion as to whether or not it will be a reboot or continuation of what Michael Bay has created. They also have a new G.I. Joe movie and a Micronauts adaptation slated for 2020, with Dungeons and Dragons and another untitled event movie slated for 2021. With Rom now happening, this potential Hasbro cinematic universe is starting to take shape. This news comes to us courtesy of Deadline.