Dino-Riders Movie Reportedly In The Works

Mattel and Solipsist Film are teaming up to bring 1980s animated series Dino-Riders to the big screen.

Here's the details on the Dino-Riders mythology, as laid out by the Tracking Board's report:

In a futuristic war, the evolved human race known as the Valorians are trying to save the galaxy from Krulos and his army of mixed-species Rulons. In an effort to escape a Rulon onslaught, Questar, the leader of the Valorians, turns on a machine that takes them all back in time to prehistoric Earth. Once there, the war continues with the Valorians using their psychic abilities to convince dinosaurs to aid them, and the Rulons using machinery to enslave dinosaurs to fight for them.

The franchise was created by Gerry and Carla Conway. That's the same Gerry Conway who co-created the Punisher for Marvel Comics. As with most 80s animated series, Dino-Riders was developed primarily as a way to get kids to buy toys, in this case produced by Tyco, now owned by Mattel.

The series only ran 14 episodes, but the premise is just ridiculous enough to be seen as direct competition to Hasbro's Transformers franchise. Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime, was even part of the Dino-Riders original voice cast.

Alissa Phillips and Stephen L'Heureux are producing for Solipsist, and are said to currently be searching for a writer to pen the adaptation's script.