Petersen Directing 'Rock 'Em Sock' Em Robots'?

I'm speculating here, so bear with me. The new Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots movie, which apparently has Wolfgang Petersen attached to direct, will diverge from the toy line in this way: The robots, you see, have to have some slightly developed artificial intelligence or they'd all fight exactly the same way. And then one of them has a more advanced consciousness and recognizes that fighting each other to the death is wrong, so instead he destroys the infrastructure that makes robots fight for sport.

I could be wrong about that last part, but Latino Review says Mattel is pushing Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots and Petersen is in line to take over the project. Kurt Wimmer, who wrote Salt and last year's Law Abiing Citizen is "possibly attached" to write a draft of the script. How is this different than Real Steel, the Shawn Levy boxing robots movie starring Hugh Jackman? Got me. We probably don't need both. That one apparently has a more humanistic touch to it, since Jackman plays the promoter of the futuristic sport. That's one reason I'm using the intelligent robot idea with this one.

Click to read more ...

A Wish-List Toy from 'TRON: Legacy'

There's a new toy for TRON Legacy, a new light cycle that boasts some pretty impressive technology. As Disney Toys and Electronics veep Chris Heatherly puts it, "One of the things the light cycles can do in the movie is ride in the third dimension...We recreated that using Spin Master's zero G technology that lets you ride up the walls and upside down on the ceiling."

That's right: Those of us who grew up with the wind up Evel Knievel bikes are going to be pissed. There's a toy that can climb walls and ride the ceiling, very closely emulating the sort of breakthrough Lionel Richie envisioned in 1986. Fast Company, a terrific magazine (I can highly recommend the Masters of Design issue from last...October?) expands on the jaw-dropping gizmo, adding "the cycles also feature six-foot light emitting trails. When two bikes are racing against each other, and one crosses through the other's light trail, it'll fall off the wall or ceiling, just as in the film." I am so not prepared for the future. Watch the light cycles in action:

Click to read more ...

A Magic 8-Ball Movie? Signs Point to WTF

To paraphrase the late, great Waylon Jennings, don't you think this board game bit done got out of hand? With Battleship, Monopoly, Oujia, Clue, Risk, and others on the way, and with studios grabbing on to toys like Hot Wheels, Max Steel, He-Man, and Stretch Armstrong, it's one more reason to hate Michael Bay. If not for Transformers, I doubt we'd be here.

And "here" is that place where we ask how in the world they're going to make a Magic 8-Ball movie. Paramount and Mattel have shaken hands on a "live-action adventure film," according to Deadline Hollywood, which Jon Gunn and John Mann will write. No offense to those dudes, but they don't have to work too hard to come up with porn star names. It's one thing for games with fairly direct narratives to get this sort of treatment; the war games seem easy to contemplate, Monopoly less so. But what's a Magic 8-Ball movie going to be like? People shaking it to solve their problems and then...magic stuff happens?

Click to read more ...

Taylor Lautner's 'Stretch Armstrong' Gets a Director

It seems like whenever I wake up thinking those articles I've written about Stretch Armstrong were just a dream, another story surfaces about the malleable toy movie that reminds me it's actually happening. There's still no logic behind it, but it's certainly being made.

The last development had something to do with Taylor Lautner, who will star as Stretch. Ironically, he's one of the least flexible actors I've seen in a long, long time. He does have good physicality, but his range is basically nonexistent. It'll be up to the director of Monsters vs. Aliens and Shark Tale to turn Lautner into a guy who can carry a movie all on his own.

Click to read more ...

'Masters of the Universe' Reboot Moves to Columbia

He-Man is coming back, even though Warner Bros. couldn't seize the same opportunity to make it a couple years ago. Now Mattel is partnering with Columbia for Masters of the Universe (formerly Grayskull), officially putting this one back on the fast track.

Heat Vision Blog reports that the studio has hired Michael Finch and Alex Litvak from the new Predators reboot to fashion the script. The toys came first, followed by the TV show, followed by an embarrassing movie starring Dolph Lundgren and Frank Langella as Skeletor. Seriously, the phrase "Frank Langella as Skeletor" ought not be in the English language.

Click to read more ...