Relativity Picks Up 'Stretch Armstrong'; Taylor Lautner Off The Project

stretch armstrong movie hasbro relativity

There was a time when Universal Pictures was ready to back just about every Hasbro toy or board game movie adaptation currently being developed. Eventually (in late Summer 2011) the studio decided that wasn't the most brilliant of ideas, and purged itself of projects such as McG's Ouija, Ridley Scott's Monopoly, Gore Verbinski's Clue reboot - and the would-be Taylor Lautner starring vehicle, Stretch Armstrong.



Here's a refresher about the original pliable Hasbro action figure (via Relativity's official press release):


Twilight's Lautner had originally planned to play the titular (rubbery) muscular action hero, with Steve Oedekerk (Kung Pow: Enter the Fist, Evan Almighty) penning the screenplay and Rob Letterman (Monsters vs Aliens, Gulliver's Travels) serving as director on what was clearly going to be a broadly comedic Stretch Armstrong adaptation. However, it appears the project will now be retooled completely, without any creative input from those aforementioned players.

Then again - given the quality of Lautner, Odekerk, and Letterman's overall collective body of work, that doesn't exactly sound like an immense loss, does it? Moving on...

taylor lautner stretch armstrong movie

There's no word yet on what Relativity has in mind for the Stretch Armstrong movie, but (given the nature of the "source material") it's probably safe to say: the flick will likely be even more cartoony and light-hearted of an effects-heavy action vehicle than even director Michael Bay's Transformers movies. Not to mention, much more comical in nature than either of the Hasbro property-based films due to hit theaters in 2012 (Battleship and G.I. Joe: Retaliation).

It was for that reason that Lautner (seemingly) originally chose to sign up for Stretch Armstrong, seeing how it would serve as more a comedic foil to the serious action-oriented projects he had plans to headline. At least, that's how things looked before last year's Abduction sufficiently demonstrated that the actor is NOT yet a bankable commodity, outside of when he's playing Jacob Black onscreen.


Best to not expect to learn too much more about Stretch Armstrong in the near future, though, seeing how (to reiterate) it won't be arriving in theaters until April 2014. All the same, we will continue to keep you updated on the status of the project.

Source: Relativity Media

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