It’s been over a year and a half since the first announcement of the project, but the live-action Hot Wheels movie just got a new paint job as it heads back out onto the track. According to The Hollywood Reporter, screenwriting duo Neil Widener and Gavin James have been tapped by Warner Bros. and Mattel to pen the screenplay for the movie, based on the ever popular line of die-cast toy cars. You may not know their names but the two have been working around town for some time, developing other projects that have yet to get in front of cameras like the sequel to San Andreas and Now You See Me 3.
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What the pair’s specific take on the …material will be in the film remains to be seen, but according to the trade they were among many writers that submitted a treatment to the studio, reportedly beating out “several more established players.” It’s unclear what angle this movie will take anyway, whether it will be similar to something like The Fast and the Furious franchise or The LEGO Movie remains to be seen, but either seems like a possibility.
“We are excited to bring the thrill of a Hot Wheels live-action feature film to the big screen in partnership with Warner Bros. Pictures,” Ynon Kreiz, Mattel’s chairman and CEO, said last year when the project was announced. “Mattel Films has great momentum as it continues to execute on our commitment to bring global audiences new ways to experience the brands they love as we transform Mattel into an IP-driven, high-performing toy company.”
Mattel Films head Robbie Brenner is set to produce the movie which is one of many Mattel properties that remain in development for the big screen. A live-action Barbie movie has been in the works for many years and as of last summer has Oscar nominees Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach set to write the script with Gerwig also up to potentially direct. An American Girl movie is also in development, set up at MGM; plus movies based on Barney and Wishbone also in the works (though not toys, they’re being produced by Mattel Films). Blumhouse productions is also working on a Magic 8 Ball movie with Fantasy Island director Jeff Wadlow attached to direct and co-write, a spooky angle on the popular toy seems inevitable.
What direction do you think a live-action Hot Wheels movie will take? An even more outlandish and ridiculous Fast and Furious or perhaps a more family friendly movie like The LEGO Movie? Let us know in the comments!
(Cover Photo by Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images)
