Mattel were already on their way to developing a whole roster of movies based on their toy IP – from He-Man to Thomas the Tank Engine, and even Hot Wheels and Uno – but the giant success of Barbie has only galvanized them further. And buried in amongst all of the fifteen or so titles, it’s revealed that even Tom Hanks is getting in on the act.
Variety has shared a list of some of the projects in development. Some of them we’ve known about for a while – including Daniel Kaluuya’s weird-sounding Barney the Dinosaur movie, and the Masters of the Universe movie that Netflix were making, but have now shelved. There’s apparently going to be a Magic 8-Ball movie and Vin Diesel will star in a movie based on Rock Em Sock Em Robots – no, we can’t believe we’re typing these words either.
Closer to the vein of the Barbie movie, will be Polly Pocket and American Girl Doll movies. As well as a ‘grounded and gritty’ Hot Wheels movie produced by JJ Abrams, the very similar Matchbox car toys are also getting a movie. Thomas and Friends has a long history of both TV series and movies, but World War Z director Marc Forster is involved, so who knows what that will be like. Thomas had never seen such a mess.
If you read all the way down the list, you may find in the small print, the unexpected name of one Tom Hanks. Hanks will apparently star as a Mattel astronaut action figure from the 1960s who lives and works on the moon, called Major Matt Mason.
We know that Hanks will bring his 1960s astronaut experience from making one of the best movies based on a true story – Apollo 13 – to the role. His co-star Kevin Bacon told EW that the rigorous astronaut training that they underwent; “all went right over my head, but I literally think Hanks could fly in outer space. He was really, really into it.”
While we wait to find out which of these frankly baffling toy movies get made, check out our guide to the best Tom Hanks movies and to the Barbie cast.