We all know that a Metroid film was in development in 2005, with John Woo attached to direct. It met its demise in part because Nintendo, ever protective of their IP, was hesitant to license a movie based on their games after the failure of the live-action Mario film in 1993.

Recently, former Nintendo of America marketing manager Gail Tilden gave an interview to the Video Game History Foundation. She revealed additional details about the Metroid movie: it had the support of series producers Yoshio Sakamoto and Kensuke Tanabe, who were both involved in early discussions. Although it was nowhere close to the casting stage, they had discussed potential actresses to play Samus, such as Charlize Theron. They leaned toward an actress with more athleticism than beauty. Conversations about the story churned through the many meetings held, before they landed on a pitch.

Tilden attributed the film’s cancellation to financial reasons. John Woo’s company was unable to make a sale, with the high budget required for a movie of this scale being a sticking point. At the time of pre-production, the only prominent female-led action movie was Catwoman, starring Halle Berry. Its failure with both critics and at the box office meant that Metroid never made it past a film pitch.

Previously, producer Brad Foxhoven indicated in an interview with IGN that there were disagreements over creative control with Nintendo. They were reluctant to allow outside filmmakers to flesh out the backstory of Samus instead of them. He said Nintendo walked away from the process appreciating that the Metroid franchise would need to be expanded further before it could become a film.

With a successful animated Mario movie out, another one on the way, Nintendo in active development on a Zelda movie, and many more female-led action films surfacing in the years since, Samus may eventually make her way to the silver screen at last.

Source: Video Game History Foundation (audio discussion of the Metroid film starts at 1:00:26)