The last time Empire wrote a story about Walt Becker, director of Wild Hogs, we may have been a little harsh on the guy. After all, Wild Hogs was nowhere near as offensive or awful as most Martin Lawrence comedies, while it showed that Becker has a nose for high-concept laughers.
Which he showed again today by attaching himself to the family comedy Little Big War, which Fox, New Regency and Davis Entertainment will produce.
At the moment, little is known about the spec script from Jay Longino and Michael Browning that first attracted Becker, but it is believed that the movie revolves around a family who must band together to fend off an attack from action figures, which come alive when night falls.
It’s a great idea – we particularly loved it when we first read Stephen King’s 1978 short story, Battleground (hitman battles G.I. Joe action figures sent to wipe him out), saw Joe Dante’s hit-and-miss 1998 flick, Small Soldiers, and endured Night At The Museum. And then, of course, there’s a small movie called Toy Story which features the same toys-come-alive premise.
But hey, nothing’s truly original these days in Hollywood, and perhaps Becker will succeed where Dante, for example, couldn’t quite pull it off. One way in which this could work is if Becker and his financial backers could somehow persuade toy companies to let big brand names be used in the film - what we wouldn't give to see a squadron of tiny Transformers, for example, face off against a bunch of Bratz. But we all know that that's not going to happen.
So what do you think? Is there another way in which Little Big War might succeed?