**Update: According to a press release from Relativity, Breck Eisner has won the job and is officially aboard Stretch Armstrong. **"This is a fantastic opportunity to create a world that is both fresh and exhilarating,” he says. “What really excites me is the chance to build a hero from the ground up."
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Add one more to the list of long-gestating projects that director Breck Eisner is attached to: he’s now in negotiations to take over megaphone chores on Relativity Media’s planned film of Stretch Armstrong.
You’ll remember Stretch: originally launched as a toy across the pond in 1976, he caught on quickly thanks to his rubber limbs. Though the film rights featured in the deal between Hasbro and Universal that spawned Battleship, the idea stumbled around development, missing one release date after another.
Even the addition of Taylor Lautner didn’t help matters, and Universal shoved it to the back of the turnaround toy chest.
But Relativity still believes there’s a potential action franchise to be mined from the name, and grabbed up the available rights in January. While the press releases ballyhooed how everyone was thrilled to be collaborating, the real work began quietly behind the scenes, with **The Manchurian Candidate **writer Dean Georgaris cranking out a draft of the script.
There’s no telling when Eisner will get to work on the thing, as even if he locks in a deal, he’s already in pre-production on FBI thriller Manhunt. And Stretch could always end up on the pile of movies Eisner has tried to get made that are still lingering in Eisner's “maybe” file, including new takes on Flash Gordo****n, The Brood and Escape From New York. Will Lautner still be involved? Only time will tell.