After four whole Toy Stories and a smattering of buildable brick-based flicks released elsewhere, childhood toys can mean big business in Hollywood. Not only is Greta Gerwig cooking up a Barbie movie starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, but Lena Dunham has a Lily Collins-starring Polly Pocket adventure following hot on its pink heels. But what’s the next big toys-to-life offering? Action Man with Henry Cavill? Or Stretch Armstrong with The Rock? Even more weirdly, we look to be getting Play-Doh: The Movie .
Yes, the worldwide bestselling arts and crafts essential is getting its moment in the spotlight, with some serious talent involved. The Play-Doh movie, coming from eOne and Hasbro, is being written by Oscar-nominated The Big Sick screenwriter Emily V. Gordon, with In The Heights and Crazy Rich Asians’ Jon M. Chu producing – and potentially directing – too. “Jon and I had a series of conversations about creativity, imagination, and the purpose of art that were so fun and juicy that I knew I had to do this,” Gordon wrote on Twitter, adding that her pre-moviemaking experiences might come in handy on this one. “I’ll get to use some of my play therapist training too, maybe…”
As you’d imagine, this will be an animated film – the obvious idea would be for it to be claymation (Doh-mation?), but details on what exactly this will look like are thin on the ground.
Hasbro’s acquisition of eOne back in 2019 is already proving a fruitful partnnership for future projects: there’s a Chris Pine and Regé-Jean Page starring Dungeons & Dragons film coming early next year; a Power Rangers reboot from The End Of The F––ing World creator Jonathan Entwistle; an animated Magic: The Gathering Netflix series; and other iconic names like Clue, Mouse Trap, and Ouija all floating around in varying stages of development.
As for this venture, Chu and Gordon are confident that they’ve got something special – no, not actual Play-Doh – on their hands. In a joint statement released to Deadline, the duo said: “The team looks forward to bringing the audience a moldable, pliable, iconically scented story about the importance of imagination.” Let’s just hope it’s a bit more The LEGO Movie than Playmobil: The Movie, eh?